Second session of first day of the 2011 Eric Namesnik Grand Prix – Swimming News
The second session of day one of the 2011 Eric Namesnik Grand Prix included the final rounds of the events of 200m freestyle, 100m breast-stroke, 100m butterfly and 400m Individual Medley in the Men’s and Women’s category.
The session started with the Women’s 200m freestyle final, where the fastest qualifying swimmer Kathryn Hoff earned the gold medal in 1:58.24 minutes, ahead of the Jasmine Tosky and Whitney Myers, who clocked 1:59.60 and 1:59.98 minutes, respectively. Hoff
earned the crowd’s applause after improving her own pool record by almost two seconds.
Later on, the arena’s favourite Michael Phelps demonstrated a tremendous effort to conquer the crown for the Men’s 200m freestyle. Phelps, who qualified as the eighth fastest swimmer into the final, improved his sprint to 1:48.45 minutes to secure the gold
medal. He was followed by Ryan Lochte and Markus Rogan, who touched the wall in a time of 1:48.69 and 1:49.23 minutes, respectively.
Moments later, Annie Zhu proved her eligibility for the crown of the Women’s 100m breast-stroke in an astounding time of 1:11.17 minutes. The event witnessed tremendous efforts from Sarra Lajnef and Allie Szekely, who engaged Zhu in a neck-to-neck race,
clocking 1:11.63 and 1:11.85 minutes, respectively.
In the Men’s corner, Franca Da Silva conquered the equivalent event by producing a wonderful swim of 1:01.62 minutes. J Gomes Junior and Ferreira Lima followed him on the podium for the silver and bronze medal in a time of 1:01.95 and 1:01.99 minutes, respectively.
In the Women’s 100m butterfly, Dana W Vollmer defeated the Olympic gold medallist Natalie Coughlin, to claim the title for the event. Vollmer clocked a time of 57.50 seconds that placed her considerably ahead of Coughlin, who clocked in 58.05 seconds. Dayanara
Paula followed them on the podium for the bronze medal in a time of 58.65 seconds.
Phelps once again appeared on the diving blocks and claimed the title for Men’s 100m butterfly in a time of 52.30 seconds. Marcin Cieslak and Peng Wu, despite of their wonderful swims appeared second and third with a timing of 53.08 and 53.26 seconds, respectively.
In the Women’s 400m IM, Caitlin Leverenz reached the top of the podium in a time of 4:40.71 minutes, ahead of Stina Gardell and Joann Maranhao, who followed her on the podium for the silver and bronze medal in timings of 4:41.83 and 4:47.93 seconds, respectively.
The last event of the day was the Men’s 400m IM, where Scott T Clary won the gold medal in an astonishing time of 4:16.74 minutes. His time was considerably ahead of Robert Margalis and Vyt Janusaitis, who touched the wall to secure the second and third
position in 4:20.96 and 4:21.86 minutes, respectively.
The championship is the third last stop of the 2011 USA Grand Prix Series and the swimmers will face each other once again on the event’s next stop at Charlotte, during May.
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