Michael Dawson wins Men’s 50m breast-stroke heats: 2011 Irish Long Course Championships
The 20-year-old Michael Dawson dominated the preliminary rounds of the Men’s 50m breast-stroke on day one of the 2011 Irish Long Course Championships.
The championship is a four-day competition and will conclude on May 1, 2011 after the conclusion of all swimming events in the Men’s and Women’s category.
ARDS’s Dawson qualified for the semi-final in a fastest time of 29.92 seconds ahead of the MAL’s Emmet Crowley and DOL’s John P Quinn, who touched the wall in 30.79 and 31.38 seconds for second and third fastest qualification respectively.
Dawson’s considerable quicker start paved his way for the fastest qualification. Nevertheless, Crowley covered Dawson’s 0.15 seconds lead after the first five metres and they both continued a neck-to-neck race in the first half of the swim, staying 0.41
seconds faster from their closest rival, Quinn.
After the initial 25 metres, Dawson sprinted his way to the second half, clocking a time of 29.92 seconds and earned a lead of 0.87 seconds from his closest rival, Crowley. In the meantime, Crowley managed a lead of 0.59 seconds to occupy the second fastest
qualification spot ahead of Quinn, who touched the wall third in a time of 31.38 seconds.
Dawson’s time was considerably slower than the Irish benchmark of 27.26 seconds, set by Barry Murphy of WWRC, who earned the gold medal in July 28, 2009.
Furthermore, SWSC’s 18-year-old Dan Sweeney emerged as the fourth fastest swimmer, clocking a time of 31.53 seconds. Nicholas Quinn of CBAR and Tadhg Gavigan of NM followed him on the finishing wall as the fifth and sixth fastest swimmer, posting a time
of 31.63 and 31.93 seconds.
The arena witnessed a tough swim between NRS’s Ryan Shannon and BAN’s Michael Doggart, trying to defeat each other for the seventh spot. With the help of his fastest kicks in the last 5 metres, Shannon out-touched Doggart with a timing of 32.29 seconds against
Doggart’s 32.38 seconds effort.
The semi-final of the same event will be conducted in the evening session, where the top eight swimmers will proceed to the finals.
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