Thomas Shields seizes Men’s 100m butterfly gold: Day one - Santa Clara International Grand Prix
Thomas A Shields of California Aquatics seized gold medal of the Men’s 100m butterfly on opening day of the 2012 Santa Clara International Grand Prix in California on Friday, June 1.
Santa Clara International is the final stage of 2012 USA Swimming Grand Prix Series that offers an opportunity to all elite swimmers to contend each other before the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The 20-year-old Shields stayed faced no trouble in occupying gold medal of the 100m event as he stayed comfortably faster from his strongest challenger, Robert L Bollier throughout the event.
With his invincible efforts, Shields gained a considerable lead over his opponents and completed his initial lap of the event with the timing of 25.03 seconds.
He was trailed by his team-member, David P Russell, who remained 0.29 seconds slower and covered the equivalent distance with an effort of 25.32 seconds.
Russell was chased by Robert L Bollier of Unattached-PC, who remained prominent for third best spot of the event as he ended his initial 50 metres of the swim with the timing of 25.43 seconds.
The crowd enjoyed gruelling struggle of Shields in the second lap of the race, where he went on a rampage and made his place on the top of victory stand for gold medal with a wonderful timing of 53.02 seconds.
Following that, the audience witnessed stupendous efforts of Bollier, who elevated his pace in the final lap and secured silver medal of the event by producing a nice time of 53.58 seconds.
Subsequently, the 25-year-old Russell failed to sustain his second best spot of the event and ended third. He remained nearly 0.40 seconds slower from overpowering the second position holder and occupied bronze medal of the discipline with the timing of 53.98 seconds.
Russell was chased by Tom Kremer of Peak-Swimming-PC, who finished fourth in the discipline by reporting a time of 54.52 seconds.
In addition, the arena acknowledged commendable efforts of all participants in their respective events while the position holders were invited on the medal rostrum for awards and accolades at the medal distribution ceremony of the championship.
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