Swimmers shine in swimming events: Santa Clara International Grand Prix – Part 8
The scintillating efforts of Fernanda Gonzalez Ramirez and Scott T Clary in the 200m backstroke aroused the hopes of arena for the concluding event of the session, 50m freestyle.
The continued efforts of finalists in the earlier events raised the level of expectation of the crowd and they could not wait to see what comes up in the shortest freestyle events.
Seventh event of the session was Women’s 50m freestyle, where Madison J Kennedy of SwimMAC Carolina overpowered her opponents and ensured her place on the top of medal rostrum.
With her persistent efforts, the 24-year-old Kennedy sustained her top qualification spot of the race and tapped the finishing end with the timing of 25.05 seconds.
Her gold winning effort remained almost one second slower from the US Open and meet record of 24.13 seconds, set by Cate Campbell of Australia during 2008.
She also remained 0.98 seconds behind the American mark of 24.07 seconds, held by Dara Torres of USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Subsequently, she also failed to improve the world record of 23.73 seconds, made by Britta Steffen of Germany in 2009.
The champion remained 0.42 seconds slower from Samantha L Woodward, who followed Kennedy on the victory stand for silver medal by producing a time of 25.47 seconds.
Following that, the audience was thrilled with the furious efforts of Lara M Jackson and Live Jensen, who engaged each other in a neck-to-neck race and ended in a joint finish.
Both swimmers tried hard to escape each other over the finishing end for bronze medal but tapped the wall with an identical timing of 25.51 seconds.
Next was the equivalent event in Men’s corner, where Anthony L Ervin upset his opponents and captured gold medal of the event.
The 31-year-old Ervin stayed 1.31 seconds slower from the meet record of 22.04 seconds, set by Nathan G Adrian of California Aquatics. His dazzling sprint also remained 1.21 seconds behind the US Open mark of 21.14 seconds, made by Cesar Augusto Cielo Filho
of Brazil in 2009.
Ervin also remained 0.95 seconds behind the American record of 21.40 seconds, owned by Cullen Jones of USA from 2009. Similarly, he also failed to improve the world record 20.91 seconds, made by Cielo during 2009.
The champion was followed by William F Copeland, who stayed 0.39 seconds apart and made his way to the medal rostrum for silver medal by producing a time of 22.74 seconds.
Third position of the event was secured by Roy-allan S Burch, who remained 0.26 seconds apart and posted a time of 23.00 seconds.
The bronze medallist was followed by David H Dunford and Tyler Messerschmidt, who failed to surpass each other over the finishing end and ended in a joint finish for fourth position with an effort of 23.05 seconds.
The duo was chased by Bennett G Clark, who secured sixth position of the shortest freestyle event by posting a time of 23.18 seconds.
In addition, the session came to an end after the conclusion of all planned events while the position holders were called upon the medal rostrum for medals and accolades at the prize ceremony of the championship. Furthermore, Ervin stated that he would try
hard to improve his timing and represent his country at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
To be continued in Part 9.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: