Thomas Shields excels in Men’s 100m butterfly semi-final - FINA Swimming Championships (25m)
Thomas Shields of USA excelled in the semi-final of Men’s 100m butterfly on initial day of the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) at Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul, Turkey, on Wednesday, December 12.
The American swimmer demonstrated his astonishing efforts in the butterfly discipline as he earned his way into the playoff as strongest contender for gold medal.
With his gruelling efforts, Shields remained only an inch ahead of his closest swimmer and tapped the wall for first position with a nice timing of 50.14 seconds.
His fastest qualification effort was traced by Chad le Clos of South Africa, who stayed 0.02 seconds slower from his foregoing finisher and touched the wall for second spot with a wonderful effort of 50.16 seconds.
Le Clos was followed by Joeri Verlinden of Netherlands, who stayed nearly two strokes behind and surfaced on the finishing blockade for third position by touching the wall with an effort of 50.43 seconds.
Fourth fastest qualification spot of the race was secured by Ryan Lochte of USA, who stayed 0.16 seconds slower from his foregoing finisher and completed his swim in a time of 50.59 seconds.
Lochte was chased by Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, who suffered a loss of only 0.13 seconds from his foregoing finisher and completed his swim in fifth place by reporting a time of 50.72 seconds.
Afterwards, the audience experienced ruthless efforts of Rafael Munoz Perez of Spain and Konrad Czerniak of Poland, who engaged each other in a fierce battle for sixth position.
Both swimmers tried hard to ascend on the overall rankings list but failed to do so and concluded their swims with identical timing of 50.73 seconds for sixth position.
Last qualification spot of the race was obtained by China’s Peng WU, who once defeated Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly at the 2011-12 USA Swimming Grand Prix Series, and posted 50.77 seconds for eighth position.
In addition, Shields was extremely contented with his top notch effort in the semi-final and articulated his desire of reaching the top of podium by continuing the same in playoff of the race.
Tags: