TO AND CO HOLD ON FOR GOLD IN DEADLY MEDLEY
AOC, August 19: A triumphant men's medley relay team has led the Australian swim team to a massive haul of six medals on the fourth day of competition at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
If this performance from the Australian swimmers is anything to go by then the future of the sport at the highest level looks to be in the safest of hands.
Not one opportunity was missed by the six Australians who took to the water, with six medals (one gold, two silver and three bronze) from six finals in an impressive result for the green and gold.
The Aussies managed to save their best for last, with the medley relay team producing some scorching times to win gold in 3 min 42.50 secs from France (3.43.84, silver) and Germany (3.44.22, bronze).
Before hitting the water, the Australian team of Kenneth To, Max Ackerman, Nicholas Schafer and Justin James stood united, hands held and lifted to the ceiling as the presenter called each of their names.
It was an impressive display of camaraderie with To later revealing how much this win meant to each of them.
"This is the one we wanted to win," To said.
"We've got four specialists here and we have been aiming up for this since we arrived, it means a lot to win gold. I'm happy we've been able to get out there and show some of our magic."
Backstroker Ackermann was first into the water keeping his team in the front pack and setting up the three swimmers to follow with a time of 56.99.
Schafer, the individual 100m breaststroke winner pulled out all stops with a time of 1.01.55 before everywhere man To - who has now completed most of his massive schedule - swam the butterfly leg pulling Australia out in front by about a body length as he touched in 53.60.
Anchorman freestyler James was left to bring the Australian team home, hitting the water in front. He never looked like being challenged with a split of 50.36, finishing a body length in front.
To continued his great form in individual events taking silver in the 50m freestyle with a time of 22.82 seconds.
Beaten only by the Ukranian flyer Andrii Govorov in 22.35, To came out of the water strong and held off from Spaniard Aitor Martinez who claimed bronze in 22.83, just 0.01 off the Australian.
It was To's third silver for the Games and he was happy with the result.
"I was pretty nervous before that swim," he said.
"It's just such a pleasure to swim here with world class like Andrii, that time 22.35 is up there with the best in the world."
Schafer had a more difficult start than in his morning heat in the final of the 200m breaststroke, going into the 50m mark in sixth with split of 30.62, about half a second behind the Italian swimmer and eventual winner Flavio Bizzario.
In a gritty display, Schafer pulled back three places over the next 100m, to go into the last turn in third place.
The final 50m was an epic battle between the three medallists, with Bizzario just taking the win from Russian Anton Lobonov, who swam a time of 2.13.65. Bizzario's time of 2.13.31 was 0.34 faster than Schafer who finished in 2.13.72.
"I knew they [Lobonov and Bizzario] would be fast, but you can't think about that too much," Schafer said after the race.
"I just tried to focus on my own race I gave it my best and I'm happy with the bronze."
Next in the medal hunt was Queenslander Ackermann, claiming his first Youth Olympic Games medal - a bronze - in the 50m backstroke final and he shared it with Kuwaiti swimmer Abdullah Altuwaini after the pair dead-heated in a time of 26.46.
Winner Christian Homer from Trinidad clocked 26.36 to bring the crowd to its feet, but the biggest cheers came for Singaporean Kai wee Rainer Ng who took silver in a time of 26.45.
Other than Homer who pulled away by half a length, it was near impossible to separate the next three. The race was so tight just 0.80 of a second separated the top eight swimmers.
The medals continued to flow, when Emily Selig claimed silver in the 100m breaststroke final.
In one of the upsets of the meet, favourite Rachel Nichol came in third with a time of 1.09.18, behind fellow Canadian Tera van Beilen, who won gold in a time of 1.08.95 and Selig (1.09.06), beating her semi-final time of 1.09.84 and earning the teenager a well deserved silver medal.
The last individual event of the night involved Emma McKeon who claimed a bronze in the 200m freestyle, bringing her personal medal tally for the Youth Olympic Games to four.
McKeon had a good start and went into the 100m mark in fourth place with a time of 58.77.
Chasing the Chinese swimmer Yi Tang (gold) and Hungarian Boglarka Kapas (silver), McKeon stuck with the pack and produced a quality finish to cling to bronze in 2.01.18.
Tang, who earlier won the 200m, finished with a time of 1.58.78, while Kapas finished in 2.00.99.
Elliot Woods
AOC