Sergey Fesikov and Valentina Artemyeva win semi-finals: Day one – European Swimming Championships
Sergey Fesikov and Valentina Artemyeva of Russia showered their expertise in the semi-finals of Men’s 50m freestyle and Women’s 50m breast-stroke respectively on first day of the 2011 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Szczecin, Poland on Thursday, December 8.
The 22-year-old Fesikov qualified as the fastest swimmer into the final round by submitting a time of 21.19 seconds. He remained 0.71 seconds behind the European mark of 20.48 seconds, made by Amaury Leveaux of France in 2008.
With his astonishing effort, the Russian remained 0.05 seconds ahead of his following swimmer, Konrad Czerniak of Poland, who occupied second finest spot of the race by posting an effort of 21.24 seconds.
The 22-year-old Czerniak edged out his following swimmer, Marco Orsi of Italy with a margin of 0.05 seconds as he finished third with a timing of 21.29 seconds. Orsi was followed by his team-mate, Luca Dotto, who was just 0.13 seconds slower than him on the finishing wall and posted a time of 21.42 seconds for fourth qualification.
The fifth fastest qualification spot of the race was claimed by Krisztian Takacs of Hungary, who was 0.08 seconds behind his former finisher and ended his swim in a time of 21.50 seconds.
Next was the Women’s 50m breast-stroke, where Artemyeva clocked a wonderful time of 30.34 seconds to enter the final round as top qualifying swimmer. She was followed by Dorothea Brandt of Germany, who remained just a nail away from her and reported a time of 30.38 seconds.
Rikke Moelle Pedersen emerged as the third fastest qualifying swimmer into the final, as she ended her swim in a time of 30.70 seconds. She was followed by Daria Deeva of Russia, who remained 0.15 seconds slower and qualified as fourth fastest swimmer with a timing of 30.85 seconds.
Katharina Stiberg of Norway was 0.09 seconds away from Deeva and completed her swim in a fifth fastest qualification time of 30.94 seconds.
Furthermore, these qualifying swimmers will compete with each other in the final round of their respective events to prove their mettle for the top spot on the victory stand.
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