Marieke Guehrer captures ten gold medals at the 2011 Australian University Games - Part 4
Marieke Guehrer’s award winning efforts continued on second day of the 2011 Australian University Games, where the Melbourne-based champion already occupied the title of single-lap freestyle event and seemed in thrilling form for the 50m butterfly event.
Unlike the qualifying rounds of 50m freestyle, Guehrer cemented her second fastest qualifying place in the final of 50m butterfly. She was accompanied by her team-members, Grace Loh and Julia Oakley, who were fortunate enough to confirm their spots in the
final rounds.
Finally, the time came when Melbourne’s Guehrer appeared on the starting blocks in quest of her fifth gold medal. Despite of her exhausting schedule, she looked astonishingly strong and determined towards her goal.
Upon the start of the event, Guehrer was the foremost swimmer to descend from the starting blocks. Her forceful push and quick strokes helped her in escaping the reach of her fellow competitors and within no time, she gained a two-stroke lead over her immediate
swimmer. The arena went wild with such a stalwart effort of the 25-year-old, who kept on enhancing her speed as she went near the wall.
In the second-half of 50m swim, Guehrer earned a full body lead over University of Sydney’s Mel Houghton, who initially made a strong effort to snatch her gold medal. Nevertheless, the arena’s favourite turned full throttle and devastated the hopes of her
rivals, clocking a time of 26.93 seconds for gold medal. Her effort was 0.87 seconds under her former mark of 27.80 seconds, which she made at the 2009 Games.
Houghton was 1.18 seconds slower than the gold medallist as she reached the victory stand for silver medal by producing a time of 28.11 seconds. The silver medallist got engaged in stiff competition with her team-member, Emma Gray, who missed her on the
finishing end with a margin of just 0.40 seconds. Gray followed Houghton on the podium for bronze medal by posting a time of 28.51 seconds.
On the other hand, the champion’s team-mates, Loh and Oakley finished fifth and eighth in the butterfly playoff, where Loh posted a time of 28.80 seconds and Oakley hit the wall in 30.43 seconds.
After a few moments, Guehrer was once again called upon the starting end for her third event of the session, the 100m back-stroke. Her mettle performance in the preliminary rounds of back-stroke discipline placed her in a strong position for her sixth title
claiming effort. She qualified into the final as the third fastest swimmer, but everyone knew that she would surely outperform her rivals in the final session.
Just after owning the title of butterfly discipline, Guehrer looked tired and seemed little exhaustive, but she was contented over her notable efforts. She expressed that she has been trying hard and her aim is to represent her nation at superior levels
of international swimming.
In addition, with her gold winning efforts, she was going on top of the overall points table and was obvious as the best swimmer of the championship. She received a huge round of applause from the arena, while moving towards the starting blocks for her back-stroke
final.
Continued in Part 5.
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