Gyurta snatches surprise breaststroke gold

Rome: Hungary`s Daniel Gyurta surged from behind to snatch a surprise gold medal in the men`s 200 metres breaststroke final at the world championships on Friday.Gyurta was trailing in last place at the halfway point and sixth at the final turn but he pulled off a sizzling last 50 to clinch a tight race by a fingernail`s length in two minutes 7.64 seconds.

Cancer survivor Eric Shanteau of the United States was only 0.01 of a second back in second place. "When I was 10 metres from the wall I saw Shanteau was still in front of me and at five I started to concentrate on my technique and put all my power into my strokes," Gyurta told reporters. "You can see that it worked." Australia`s Christian Sprenger, who set a world record of 2:07.31 in Thursday`s semis, and Lithuania`s Giedrius Titenis both picked up the bronze medal. Sprenger`s compatriot Brenton Rickard had his nose in front in the middle but ended up off the podium in fifth. "You tend to tighten up a little in the breaststroke. You go from swimming like you`re 10 feet tall to swimming like you`re three feet tall," Shanteau said. "That`s kind of what happened to me in the last 10-15." Bureau Report