Swimming Nationals: Srihari continues record-breaking spree on Day 5, wins best swimmer

Srihari Nataraj and Kenisha Gupta ended their campaign in style, claiming gold medals in men's 100m backstroke and women's 100m freestyle events respectively on the final day of the 73rd Glenmark Senior National Aquatic Championship here on Wednesday.

Srihari created a national record in the men's 100m backstroke, his last individual event of this meet. He finished with a time of 55.63s. He broke his own record of 56.53, which set last year.

It was an easy win for Srihari, who dominated the race with SSCB's Madhu PS finishing almost 3 seconds behind him at 58.30 to settle for the silver medal. Rakshith Shetty of Karnataka (58.89) took home the bronze medal.

In the women's 100m freestyle event, Maharashtra's Kenisha pipped record holder Shivani Kataria of Haryana to take home the gold.

Kenisha established the national record by clocking 58.26 seconds at the Prakash Taran Pushkar Bhavan here.

Srihari and Shivani emerged as the best swimmers of the meet with the Karnataka aquatic team being adjudged the best team for its overall performance in the competition.

Srihari ends the competition with four gold medals and three new national records to his name, while Shivani takes home a rich medal haul of three medals including two golds and one silver.

Results:
Women: 800m Freestyle: Richa Mishra (Police) 9:22.50; Khushi Dinesh (Karnataka) 9:34.81; Bhavya Sachdeva (Delhi) 9:31.41
100m Backstroke: Ridhima Kumar (Karnataka) 1:07.19; Suvana Baskar (Karnataka) 1:07.22, Soubrity Mondal (Bengal) 1:07.41
200m Butterfly: Apeksha Fernandes (Maharashtra) 2:23.17; Anvesha Girish (Karnataka) 2:25.3; Shakthi B (Tamil Nadu) 2:25.78
100m Freestyle: Kenisha Gupta (Maharashtra) 58.26 (NMR); Shivani Kataria (Haryana) 59.21 ; Sadhvi Dhuri 1:00.06
100m Breastroke: Likith SP (Karnataka) 1:02.69; Danush S (Tamil Nadu) 1:04.18; M Lohith (RSPB) 1:05.08
100m Backstroke: Srihari Nataraj (Karnataka) 55.63 (NMR), Madhu PS (SSCB) 58.30, Rakshith Shetty (Karnataka) 58.89