Miyu Otsuka claims Girls 400m IM gold medal: Day one – 2011 FINA World Junior Championships
Miyu Otsuka of Japan claimed the title of Girls 400m Individual Medley (IM) on the foremost day of the 2011 Federation Internationale 3rd World Junior Championships on Tuesday, August 16, in Lima, Peru.
The 17-year-old Otsuka earned the gold medal of the event in a championship record time of 4 minutes and 40.98 seconds. Her time was comfortably under her own previous championship mark of 4 minutes and 43.29 seconds, set by Otsuka in the preliminary rounds
of the same event, in the earlier session of the championship. She was 11.53 seconds away from the world mark of 4 minutes and 29.45 seconds, made by Stephanie Rice of Australia at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The Japanese champion was trailed by Alessia Polieri of Italy, who remained nearly three seconds behind Otsuka and submitted a second best time of 4 minutes and 43.41 seconds for the silver medal. She was chased by Claudia Dasca of Spain, who was just 0.12
seconds slower than the second finisher and reported in a third finest time of 4 minutes and 43.53 seconds.
Moments later, Emu Higuchi of Japan emerged as the fourth fastest finisher of the event, as she remained just 1.52 seconds behind her foregoing finisher and posted a time of 4 minutes and 45.05 seconds. Dasca’s team-member, Cristina Garcia Mauri transpired
as the fifth fastest swimmer of the event, as she was 1.67 seconds slower than Higuchi and clocked a time of 4 minutes and 46.73 seconds.
In the meantime, Hali Flickinger of United States earned sixth position of the event in a time of 4 minutes and 46.78 seconds. Flickinger was chased by Rachel Zilinskas of United States and Mengqi Ding of China, who ended their swims in the seventh and eighth
positions, with timings of 4:47.21 and 4:49.11 minutes, respectively.
The arena applauded for the breath-taking swims of all participants, while the winners were called on the podium for their medals after the completion of the session.
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