Swimmers shine in swimming events: Santa Clara International Grand Prix – Part 10
After the conclusion of opening event of the session, 200m butterfly, the crowd’s focus moved towards next event of the session, Women’s 100m breaststroke.
With the growing intensity on final night of the championship, Kate Haywood of Great Britain was expected to face strong contest from Alia S Atkinson in the playoff.
Haywood, who qualified as the fastest swimmer into the playoff dominated first half of the race but she failed to overpower Atkinson’s furious efforts in the second lap and ended second.
The 23-year-old Atkinson smothered hopes of the arena’s favourite in the second half and proved her audacity for gold medal of the event. With her impeccable pace, she left no doubt about her victory, as she gained a body length lead and clocked a time of 1 minute and 08.45 seconds for gold medal.
The gold medallist remained nearly three seconds slower from the meet record of 1 minute and 05.81 seconds, owned by Rebecca Soni of Una TROJ-CA from 2011.
She also remained exactly four seconds behind the world record of 1 minute and 04.45 seconds, posted by Jessica Hardy of USA during 2009.
The gold medallist remained 1.23 seconds faster from her closest rival, Haywood, who settled on the finishing end as silver medallist by submitting a time of 1 minute and 09.68 seconds.
The second position holder was chased by Katlin N Freeman, who suffered a loss of 0.31 seconds from her foregoing finisher and secured bronze medal of the discipline by clocking a time of 1 minute and 09.99 seconds.
Fourth spot of the race was secured by Laura A Lindsay, who was 0.54 seconds apart and made her way to the finishing wall with an effort of 1 minute and 10.53 seconds. The 22-year-old Lindsay was chased by Lisa M Blackburn, who finished fifth in the discipline by producing a time of 1 minute 11.54 seconds.
Next was the Men’s 100m breaststroke, where Glenn A Snyders of New Zealand served notice of his talent by occupying gold medal of the event.
The 25-year-old Snyders remained marginally faster from the Olympic champion, Kosuke Kitajima of Japan, and accomplished gold medal of the discipline with an effort of 1 minute and 01.44 seconds.
Snyders remained 1.43 seconds slower from the meet record of Brendan J Hansen of Longhorn Aquatics, who posted 1 minute and 00.01 seconds in 2008.
He also remained 2.43 seconds away from the US Open mark of 59.01 seconds, held by Manrk Gangloff during 2009. Subsequently, he stayed nearly three seconds behind the world record of Australian swimmer, Brenton Rickard, who posted a time of 58.58 seconds at the 2009 Rome World Championships.
Second position of the discipline was notched up by Kitajima, who stayed 0.12 seconds apart and reported a time of 1 minute and 01.56 seconds.
The silver medallist was chased by Christian Schurr Voigt, who stayed just a stroke behind and reached the medal rostrum for bronze medal by clocking a time of 1 minute and 01.94 seconds.
Fourth position of the 100m event was obtained by Mihail P Alexandrov, who stayed just 0.15 seconds away and hit the finishing end with an effort of 1 minute and 02.09 seconds.
Alexandrov stayed 0.22 seconds faster from Scott W Weltz, who finished fifth in the event with an effort of 1 minute and 02.31 seconds.
To be continued in Part 11.
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