University of Minnesota Athletics
Plummer Helps U.S. Relay Win Gold at Worlds
8/1/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
July 29, 2011
Former Golden Gopher All-American David Plummer will return to the United States with a gold medal after the American 4x100-meter medley relay team won at the FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China. Plummer helped the squad earn the No. 1 seed for finals.
The former Minnesota backstroker led off the relay in heats on July 31, swimming a split of 53.97 seconds, the fourth fastest time of all the lead-off splits. The Americans went on to win in the finals with Nick Thoman swimming the backstroke lap.
Plummer also experienced individual success in Shanghai. He made his first ever worlds finals appearance in the 100 back on July 26. He finished fifth in 53.04 seconds, just .03 seconds behind Thoman. It was a close race all around, with the eight finalists separated by under a second. The same day as the relay, Plummer added another fifth-place finish in the 50 back (24.92), this time finishing .09 seconds ahead of Thoman.
During his Gopher career (2004-08), Plummer earned 14 All-America awards. He holds school records in the 100-yard and 200-yard back.
The next big event for Plummer will be the ConocoPhillips U.S. National Championships in Palo Alto, Calif. He won the national title in the 100-meter backstroke last year. Nationals take place August 2-6.