Swimming: Toumarkin finishes nationals in style with another gold medal
Toumarkin was the undoubted star of the championships in Wingate after setting a superb national record in the 200m backstroke last week.
By ALLON SINAIIsrael’s Yakov Toumarkin registered his best result to date at the world championships on Monday(photo credit: REUTERS)
Yakov Toumarkin ended the national swimming championships on a high on Saturday night after overcoming a quality field in the 100-meters backstroke final to claim another gold medal at the Wingate Institute.Toumarkin finished first in a time of 53.96 seconds, beating out Jonatan Kopelev (54.63s) and Guy Barnea (54.82s), with David Gamburg, who was also part of the Israel delegation at the recent world championships, not even making the podium.Toumarkin was the undoubted star of the championships in Wingate after setting a superb national record in the 200m backstroke last week.After disappointingly missing out on a place in the final of the 200m back at the world championships, Toumarkin broke the Israeli record twice in Wingate, ultimately clocking a time of 1:55.96 minutes, which would have been good enough for a seventh-place finish in the final of the world championships.Ten national records were set overall during the five-day meet in Wingate, with Andrea Murez, who moved to Israel from the US last year, qualifying for the Rio Olympics in the 100m freestyle with a new Israel record of 54.40s. Murez, who had previously secured her place in Rio in the 50m free, also set a new national record in the 200m free (1:59.01m). Her time was five hundredths of a second slower than the Olympic qualifying time standards set by FINA, but she will be able to take part in the event in Brazil due to the fact that she has qualified for two other swims.Zohar Shikler came tantalizingly close to booking her place in Rio on Saturday, clocking 25.30s in the 50m free, just two hundredths of a second from the time required to progress to the Olympics.Hapoel Jerusalem claimed the team title for the 24th time in the past 25 years, with Hapoel Dolphin Netanya finishing in second place.