Trinidad and Tobago's George Bovell produced the best performance of the finals when winning the men's 100 metres individual medley gold medal, yesterday, opening day of the two-day FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup 2012 meet, in Stockholm, Sweden.
Bovell has now picked up five medals in three World Cup meets. He had previously earned silver in the 50m freestyle and 100 IM at both the Dubai and Doha World Cup meets.
Yesterday, the 29-year-old four-time Olympian produced a new T&T record and a career-best 51.56 seconds in the 100 IM to beat 20-year-old Australian Kenneth To. The young Australian had earned gold in both Dubai and Doha. Bovell's previous best in the 100 IM was 51.87 seconds, set in Doha when he trailed To in the final. Another Australian, 25-year-old Kyle Richardson was third yesterday in 52.78 seconds, with South African Darian Townsend fourth in 53.04.
Bovell's gold medal performance corresponded to 954 points, and made him the overall best performer in yesterday's finals.
To, who won in Doha in 51.43 seconds, had to be content this time with the silver in 51.75. He produced the second best result of the day, and earned 943 points. The best three performers on day one were Bovell, To and Japanese Daiya Seto, winner of the men's 400 IM in 4:00.85 (934 points).
Earlier in the day, Bovell qualified for the 100 IM final when finishing second to Brazilian Henrique Rodrigues in heat four, which produced three of the four fastest qualifiers for the championship race. To was the overall fastest qualifier when winning heat five in 53.20 seconds. Rodrigues (53.33 ) was overall second best qualifier when beating Bovell (53.49) into second and Swede Simon Sjodin (53.66) into third. The Brazilian finished only sixth in the final.
Source: www.trinidadexpress.com