Preliminary rounds of 2011 Telkom South African National Championships - day three
Morning session of day three of the 2011 Telkom South African National Championships ended in Newton Park Pool, Port Elizabeth on Wednesday. The championship will conclude on Saturday with the completion of the South African Swimming Team to compete at the
2011 World Championships in Shanghai this July.
The session included the preliminary rounds of the Women’s 800m freestyle and 200m back-stroke along with the Men’s 800m freestyle and 200m back-stroke.
Competition started with the preliminary rounds of the Women’s 800m freestyle, where the arena enjoyed a close competition between Jessica Pengelly and Michelle Weber. The 14-year old had a stupendous start and led the race in the first 200 metres ahead
of Pengelly. She was then joined by her closest rival in the fifth lap of the race where they got involved in a neck-to-neck swim.
Pengelly had a wonderful last 200 metres that provided her lead from Weber and she completed her last lap in a time of 32.31 seconds to post 8:47.07 minutes for victory. Weber completed her last lap in 32.65 seconds but failed to taper the lead and posted
8:49.43 minutes to reach the podium for the silver medal. The third spot on the podium was secured by Rene D’ Warnes, clocking a time of 9:01.74 minutes.
Next was the Men’s equivalent event, where the top three swimmers fought each other in a more ferocious manner. Mark Randall of BOR-BO clocked a time of 8:14.16 minutes to out-touch his adjoining rival, Heerden Herman, who touched the wall in a time of 8:14.63
minutes. Greece-ZZ’s Nick Manousakis followed them on the podium with an astounding swim of 8:15.07 minutes.
Moments later, George DU Rand of NTS-NT had an amazing swim in the Men’s 200m back-stroke. The 28-year-old DU Rand earned the title for the event in a breathtaking time of 2:04.72 minutes. With his golden effort he out-touched his adjoining swimmer Charl
Crous of KZNA-KZ, was only 0.20 seconds slower than George and clocked a time of 2:04.92 minutes for the silver medal.
The last event of the session was the Women’s 200m breast-stroke, where Kathryn Meaklim once again proved her excellence and won the gold medal in a time of 2:32.89 minutes. Her team member Ronwyn Roper reached the podium for the silver medal, clocking an
astonishing time of 2:33.20 minutes while CGA-CG’s Kelly Gunnell climbed the podium for the bronze medal in a time of 2:34.51 minutes. Gunnell was only 0.12 seconds faster from her following swimmer Suze Van Biljon, who reported fourth in 2:34.63 minutes.
The preliminary rounds of the same events will be conducted in the evening session, where the winner clocking a time under the FINA time qualification standard will be ensured their tickets to China.
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