Michael Phelps wins 100m backstroke at the 2011 Eric Namesnik Grand Prix – Swimming News
American legend, Michael Phelps has won the 100m backstroke final on day two of the 2011 Eric Namesnik Grand Prix, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The competition is the third last stop of the 2011 USA Grand Prix Series and precedes the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, this July.
Phelps already owns the crown for the 200m freestyle and the 100m butterfly events at the championship but failed to reach the podium in the event of the 200m butterfly. Phelps appeared as the fastest swimmer in the preliminary rounds of the 100m backstroke
to proceed to the finals.
Phelps is known as the world’s best swimmer, as he conquered the podium eight times at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. He won gold medals in the events of 100m butterfly, 200m Individual Medley, 200m butterfly, 400m IM, 200m freestyle and the three relay
events.
The Beijing champion qualified into the final with a timing of 55.13 seconds, ahead of Hershey Aquatic’s David J Nolan and Lithuanian’s Vyt Janusaitis, who qualified as the second and third fastest swimmers in a time of 55.66 and 56.02 seconds, respectively.
Phelps, who had a disappointing 200m butterfly earlier, started the 100m event with a powerful dive that provided him a lead in the first 15 metres of the race. Janusaitis then geared up his swim and crossed Phelps to post a 26.90 seconds effort in the first
lap. Phelps was then reached by his strongest rival, Ryan Lochte and they both continued a neck-to-neck battle by demonstrating an aggressive swim in a same time of 26.92 seconds.
Phelps’s powerful tumble brought him a lead of 0.02 seconds from Janusaitis and Lochte. Phelps secured a prominent distance from his competitors, while their lead was breached by Hershey Aquatic’s David J Nolan, who had posted 27.11 efforts in the first
lap and increased the intensity of the battle by appearing as a contender for podium.
Phelps completed the second lap of the race in an astounding time of 27.23 seconds, to post 54.15 seconds on the board. Among his followers, Lochte emerged as the silver medallist by completing the lap in a time of 27.89 seconds, to post 54.81 seconds against
Nolan’s 27.99 seconds effort that provided him with a bronze medal in 55.10 seconds.
Janusaitis displayed a sluggish swim of 29.10 seconds that accounted him for the fourth spot and kept him away from the podium. He completed the race in a time of 55.91 seconds and was followed by Christi Dejong and Eugene Godsoe, who touched the wall in
56.27 and 56.60 seconds, respectively.
This was the third gold medal for Beijing’s champion in this competition and these swimmers will meet each other at the next stop of the Grand Prix in Charlotte, during May.
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