Nathan Adrian stormed past
defending world champion James "The Missle" Magnussen of Australia
with a furious final stroke to win the 100-meter freestyle by .01 seconds on
Wednesday night at the Aquatic Centre in London.
The 23-year-old Washington
native finished in 47.52. He became the first American man to win the 100 free
since Matt Biondi in 1988.
He and Adrian were in third
and fifth, respectively, at the midway point of the race. Both accelerated off
the turns, with Adrian pulling slightly ahead of the pack at the 75-meter mark.
Magnussen, an Australian superstar who had lofty expectations entering London,
powered past Adrian as they approached the wall. They went stroke for stroke
into the flags and the Aussie looked in control. But on the final lunge,
Adrian's fingertips shot past Magnussen's to hit the touchpad first, a sight
that looked like a freestyle version of Michael Phelps' .01-second win over
Milorad Cavic in the 100 butterfly in Beijing.
It's the second time at the
Olympics that Adrian has gotten the best of the heavily-favored Aussie. In
Sunday's 4x100 relay, the two men swam leadoff for their respective countries.
Adrian won that matchup by a comparatively huge margin -- .24 seconds. The
Americans went on to win silver after Ryan Lochte was passed by France's
Yannick Agnel. Hurt by Magnussen's slow leg, the Australians finished out of
the medals.
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