Mark O’Donnell captures Men’s 800m freestyle title: Day three – Australian University Games
Mark O’Donnell presented a wonderful effort in the freestyle event by capturing the title of Men’s 800m freestyle on concluding day of the 2011 Australian University Games. The event completed on Thursday, September 29, at Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, in Queensland.
Monash University’s athlete, Mark O’Donnell met the expectations of his fans by occupying the title of the distant freestyle swim in a time of 8 minutes and 35.03 seconds. O’Donnell was a tough nut to crack for his competitors as he had a top seed time of
8 minutes and 25.76 seconds.
Everyone in the arena was eyeing the 21-year-old O’Donnell, as they expected him to sustain his position and win the title of the event. At the start of the meet, O’Donnell rushed his way towards the first turn, as he was the fastest to take off from the
starting blocks. The champion took control of the event by gaining top position in the first lap and with the help of his extraordinary strokes, he managed to continue his dominance during the sixteen-lap swim.
With his exceptional strokes and gruelling strategy, he was able to score a gold medal for his University. He was followed by University of Melbourne’s Andrew Cameron, who was unable to get near the champion but his scintillating efforts placed him on the
podium for the silver medal.
Cameron completed his distant freestyle swim with an admiring effort of 8 minutes and 40.76 seconds. The silver medallist did the same to his closest competitor, Macquarie University’s Donald Cameron, who remained in a significant lead of nearly four seconds
over his preceding swimmer. Macquarie’s pupil completed the podium by securing bronze finish after he touched the finishing wall in a time of 8 minutes and 44.31 seconds.
After the retirement of distant freestyle specialist, Grant Hackett, Australia has been unable to produce a quality long-distance swimmer. Nevertheless, O’Donnell showed his exceptional efforts in the 800m event and the swimmer has expressed his desire of
securing a podium finish in distant freestyle swims for his country at major world events.
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