Stanislav Donets wins Men’s 100m backstroke semi-final - FINA Swimming Championships (25m)
Stanislav Donets of Russia won the semi-final of Men’s 100m backstroke on initial day of the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) at Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul, Turkey, on Wednesday, December 12.
The Russian swimmer showed no mercy to his opponents in the second round of the race as he outsmarted them over the finishing end and entered the playoff as strongest contender for the title.
With his exceptionally strong efforts, Donets gained a lead of two strokes over his toughest challenger and tapped the wall for first position with a nice effort of 49.98 seconds.
His gruelling effort remained 0.26 seconds ahead of the Long Course format champion, Matthew Grevers of USA, who qualified into the final round as second best finisher by reporting a time of 50.24 seconds.
Grevers remained 0.42 seconds faster from Ashley Delaney of Australia, who made his way into the playoff as third best finisher by touching the wall with an effort of 50.66 seconds.
Similarly, Delaney was traced by Robert Hurley of Australia, who suffered a loss of 0.04 seconds from his preceding swimmer and settled on the finishing end as fourth fastest swimmer by clocking an effort of 50.70 seconds.
Fifth best qualifying position of the race was obtained by Iskender Baslakov of Turkey, who remained 0.07 seconds slower from his preceding swimmer and qualified into the playoff by submitting a time of 50.77 seconds.
Baslakov was followed by Radoslaw Kawecki of Poland, who was 0.11 seconds slower from his preceding swimmer and emerged on the wall as sixth position holder with an effort of 50.88 seconds.
Subsequently, Kawecki remained only 0.10 seconds faster from Guilherme Guido of Brazil, who secured seventh position of the race by touching the wall with an effort of 50.98 seconds.
Last qualification spot of the race was obtained by Christian Diener of Germany, who stayed 0.08 seconds behind and finished eighth in the race by producing an effort of 51.06 seconds.
In addition, Donets was contented with his fastest qualification effort and stressed that he would struggle hard to sustain his spot in the playoff.
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