Bovell beats Phelps in Texas swim
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).
Published: Saturday, June 2, 2012.
T&T Olympic bronze medal winner, George Bovell III got the better of USA’s Michael Phelps as both men trailed Texan, Jimmy Feigen as the fastest qualifiers for the 100m butterfly final at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invitational Swim Meet in Austin Texas, yesterday.
The 27-year-old Bovell III, who will compete at his fourth Olympic Games in London next month, touched the wall 50.16 seconds, behind top qualifier, Feigen (49.04) while Phelps clocked 50.22. The other qualifiers for last night’s final were Dax Hill (50.32), Bobby Savulich (50.59), Garrett Weber-Gales (50.65), Neil Caskey (50.89) and Chris Brady (51.14).
Today, Bovell III will continue his preparations for London when he competes in the men’s 50m freestyle in which he will be the top seed with a time of 21.89. The other top five seeds are Feigen (22.03), Weber-Gale (22.04), Brady (22.84) and Savulich (22.90).
Tomorrow, the multi-Pan American Games medallist will also face the starter in the men’s 100m backstroke for which he is ranked as the fifth fastest with a time of 55.65 seconds. The top four seeds are Patrick Murphy (54.92), John Higgins (54.99), Madison Wenzler (54.99) and Matt Thompson (55.63).
Homer 31st in 100m fly heats
T&T’s Christian Homer, another Olympic medal hopeful had to settle for eight spot in his men’s 100m butterfly heat and 31st spot overall at the 45th Santa Clara International Invitational Swim, yesterday.
Competing from lane one in heat 11 of 12 at the George F Haines International Swim Centre, Santa Clara, Northern California, Homer, who last competed two weeks ago at the Charlotte Ultra Swim raced home in 56.41 seconds, fastest than his 58.31 clocking in Charlotte last month to finish ahead of Brett Fraser (57.28).
The top swimmer from heat 11 was Nick D’Arcy who stopped the clock at 54.06 followed by Pablo Marmolejo (54.34), and David Nolan (54.40) to round off the top three. Other finishers ahead of Homer included Justin Lynch (54.53), Joe Bartoch (55.44), William Hamilton (55.67) and Japan’s Ken Takakuwa (55.97).
Today, he competes in the 50m freestyle where he is seeded 81st with a time of 20.58 second while tomorrow Homer, who is attacked to the University of Florida Gators swimming programme is 19th ranked going into the 100m backstroke (56.86 secs).
