Park Tae Hwan secures Men’s 200m freestyle title - 2011 Santa Clara International Invitational
South Korea’s Park Tae Hwan won the gold medal of the Men’s 200m freestyle in a championship record time, on the third day of the 2011 Santa Clara International Invitational.
The Santa Clara Invitational is the seventh stop of the 2010-11 USA Grand Prix Series and is subject to conclude the Grand Prix Series. Swimmers from all over the globe are taking part in this international meet, as they want to prepare themselves for the upcoming 2011 Shanghai World Championships, to be held in July.
The 21-year-old claimed the gold medal of the event and improved the championships record, by touching the wall in a superb timing of 1 minute and 45.92 seconds. He bettered the previous record of 1 minute and 46.24 seconds by 0.32 seconds, which was set by Club Wolverine’s Peter W Vanderkaay in 2008. The Korean swimmer was 3.92 seconds slower than the world mark of 1 minute and 42.00 seconds, made by Paul Biedermann of Germany at the 2009 Rome World Championships. Similarly, he was 2.96 seconds slower than the American mark of 1 minute and 42.96 seconds, held by Michael Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Tae Hwan was followed by Australian Ryan Napoleon and Trojan Swim Club’s Dominik J Meichtry, who followed him on the podium as the silver and bronze medallists, by clocking in a time of 1:48.71 and 1:48.72 minutes, respectively.
Una-Troj-CA’s Richard C Berens stayed 0.27 seconds behind Meichtry and touched the wall for fourth position, by posting a time of 1 minute and 48.99 seconds.
Australia’s Kenrick Monk and Trojan’s Clement Lefert finished their swims in the fifth and sixth positions, by touching the wall in 1:49.09 and 1:49.30 minutes, respectively. They were followed by Charles G Houchin and Stefan de Die, who earned seventh and eight positions by producing a time of 1:49.98 and 1:50.56 minutes, respectively.
The championships will continue for one more day to conduct all scheduled events, while the swimmers will face each other once again at the 2011 World Championships, this July.
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