This Article is From Oct 05, 2010

Halsall gives England first swimming gold

Halsall gives England first swimming gold
New Delhi: Fran Halsall on Tuesday gave England its first gold in the pool at the Commonwealth Games, winning a close fight for the women's 50m butterfly crown.

The 20-year-old touched first in 26.24 seconds ahead of Australia's Marieke Guehrer, who set a new Games record in the qualifiers, and Emily Seebohm, who picked up bronze to add to her silver in the 200m individual medley.

Halsall's victory comes after a successful European championships in August when she picked up a full set of medals in the 100m free (gold), 100m fly (silver) and 50m free (bronze).

The medal ceremony saw the first outing for "Jerusalem," the traditional hymn based on William Blake's poem, which replaced "Land of Hope and Glory" as England's victory anthem at the Games after a public vote.

Guehrer, 24, the current world champion, and Seebohm, 18, repeated the 1-2 in the Pan Pacifics.

It was the second disappointment for backstroke specialist Seebohm, who is going in eight events in New Delhi. On Monday she was beaten into silver by teammate Alicia Coutts in the 200m individual medley.

Australia's teenage sensation Yolane Kukla was just outside the medals.

At 15, the Brisbane schoolgirl is the Australian national champion and is the youngest female swimmer to make the national team since 13-year-old Jodie Clatworthy in 1986.

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