Polyakov Wins Gold at 2006 Asian Championships
12/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
DOHA, QATAR ?? Alabama senior Vlad Polyakov took a break from his collegiate competition schedule to write his name into the history books as the first ever men's 50m breaststroke champion at the Asian Games being held at Doha this week.
Polyakov went out strong from lane 4 and was never headed, taking gold in a time of 28.29 seconds over Japanese sensation Kosuke Kitajima - the defending 100m and 200m breaststroke champion - by nine hundredths of a second.
Polyakov’s victory gives Kazakhstan only their second gold medal in the pool, Alexei Hovrin having claimed the other in the men’s 50m freestyle at the Asian Games of 1994 in Hiroshima, Japan.
“To be honest I was a little surprised to get this gold medal,” Polyakov said. “I hope they [my family] are watching me on television, but I don’t think this event is broadcast in Kazakhstan. So I hope they were watching it over the Internet.”
Polyakov came back to take the bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke behind the Japanese duo of Kosuke Kitajima and Makoto Yamashita. Polyakov posted a 1:01.63, just .13 behind Yamashita and half a second behind Kitajima, the defending Olympic 100 and 200m breaststroke champion.
Polyakov and his Japanese foes will face off again on Dec. 7 in the 200m breaststroke, which is the Crimson Tide standouts specialty. He has finished in the top-2 at the NCAA Championships each of his first three seasons at Alabama. He also won 2006 World Championship this spring in the 200m breaststroke.
