Marne Erasmus earns Women’s 50m butterfly gold: Day one – 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games
Marne Erasmus of South Africa earned the gold medal of Women’s 50m butterfly on the foremost day of the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games on Friday, September 9, in Isle of Man.
Erasmus presented a phenomenal swim in the butterfly discipline, by submitting a time of 26.56 seconds for the gold medal. She was followed by Sophia Batchelor of New Zealand, who remained 0.26 seconds slower than the gold medallist and occupied the silver
medal of the swim by reporting in a time of 26.82 seconds. Subsequently, the third spot of the event was secured by Vanessa Puhlmann of Australia, who remained 0.56 seconds behind Batchelor and clocked a third fastest time of 27.38 seconds.
The arena was pleased with the superb effort of Erasmus, who maintained her fastest qualification spot of the swim in the final rounds and touched the finishing wall first for the gold crown. Erasmus’s fast legs coupled with her strong arm actions acted
as a key element in helping her gain the slight lead and overpowering her competitors in the single-lap butterfly swim.
In the meantime, Puhlmann was trailed by Rachael Kelly of England, who stayed 1.37 seconds slower than her preceding swimmer and appeared on the finishing wall, with a timing of 27.75 seconds. Kelly maintained a lead of 0.21 seconds over her following swimmers,
Fiona Donnelly of Scotland and Charlotte Bryan of Wales, who ended in a draw for fifth position. Donnelly and Bryan failed to escape each other on the finishing wall and ended their swims with a same time of 27.96 seconds.
Moments later, Laura Vertigans of England, who remained 0.05 seconds slower than her preceding swimmer, claimed seventh position of the event with a timing of 28.01 seconds. Vertigans was followed by Kyla Ferreira of South Africa, who stayed 0.60 seconds
behind her and posted a time of 28.61 seconds for eighth position.
The crowd went wild with the gruelling efforts of the medal winners, while they could not wait to see what happens in the upcoming events.
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