Rebecca Soni wins Women’s 200m breaststroke gold: Day one – 2011-12 USA Swimming Grand Prix Series
Olympic champion, Rebecca Soni has served notice of her talent by winning the title of Women’s 200m breaststroke on initial day of the 2011-12 USA Swimming Grand Prix Series on Friday, January 13.
The event is the second leg of seven-stop series and is organised at Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas.
The 24-year-old Soni defended her national title with great audacity as she defeated her competitors in an easy manner. Trojan-CA’s Soni entered the final round as top contender for gold medal. With her persistent efforts, she remained prominent for top position throughout the event.
She pocketed gold medal of the four lap event with a superb 2 minutes and 22.73 seconds effort. Her gold winning effort remained nearly five seconds ahead of over closest competitor, Micah M Lawrence of SwimMAC Carolina, who followed her on the victory stand for silver medal by submitting a time of 2 minutes and 27.66 seconds.
The 21-year-old Lawrence faced tough struggle of Katlin N Freeman, who tried to surpass her on the finishing end. Santa Barbara Aquatics’ Freeman remained just 0.28 seconds slower than her former finisher and ended her swim with a timing of 2 minutes and 27.94 seconds for bronze medal.
In the meantime, the arena witnessed a nerve-wrecking performance of Eric L Shanteau, who shattered hopes of his opponents in the Men’s 200m breast-stroke event. Shanteau was the fastest swimmer to transpire on the finishing end as he produced a time of 2 minutes and 10.72 seconds.
The 28-year-old Shanteau was chased by Valerii Dymo of Redlands Swim team, who was nearly half a body length slower than him over the finishing end and captured silver medal of the race by posting a time of 2 minutes and 12.53 seconds. He was chased by Richard Webb of BSS, who ended his swim in a time of 2 minutes and 13.51 seconds for third position.
The crowd highly regarded exhausting efforts of all position holders, who secured podium in their respective event. Furthermore, the championship will end on January 15 after the completion of all scheduled events in Men’s and Women’s category.
Tags: