Masafumi Yamaguchi conquers Men’s 100m back-stroke gold: Day one – FINA Swimming World Cup, Dubai
Japanese swimmer, Masafumi Yamaguchi proved his dominance for the title of Men’s 100m back-stroke on the foremost day of the 2011 Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) Swimming World Cup series. The FINA/ARENA World Cup is a short course event and
the meet’s first session completed on Friday, October 7, in Dubai.
The 27-year-old Yamaguchi put up a great show in the back-stroke discipline, managing a comfortable lead over his strongest challenger, Nelson Silva Junior of Brazil. The Brazilian tried to put pressure on Yamaguchi in the initial lap of the swim, but the
Japanese gained a lead and went full throttle for gold medal
Yamaguchi completed his first 50m in 24.95 seconds and remained nearly one second ahead of Silva Junior, who completed the same distance in 25.87 seconds. With his continuous struggle, the Japanese easily extended his lead to 1.32 seconds, finishing his
second-half of the race in 27.33 seconds to post a time of 52.28 seconds for the gold medal.
His challenger, Silva Junior was only 0.40 seconds slower than him in the last 50m of the race as he ended his second-half in a time of 27.73 seconds, producing a total effort of 53.60 seconds for the silver medal.
In the meantime, the arena faced an upset for the third spot of the swim, where Russian swimmer, Evgeny Korotyshkin defeated Kristian Kron of Sweden for bronze medal. Kron, who qualified as the third fastest swimmer into the final race, remained almost a
half second slower than Korotyshkin in the playoff.
The Russian submitted a time of 54.90 seconds to reach the podium for bronze medal while Kron settled on the finishing wall with a fourth fastest timing of 55.42 seconds.
The spectators appreciated the gruelling efforts of these top four swimmers who demonstrated their magnificent skills to secure a podium finish in the short course breast-stroke discipline. Furthermore, the winners were invited on the medal rostrum for their
alluring swims in the event, where they were awarded medals and cash prizes after the session’s completion.
Tags: