BURNETT LOWERS THE RECORD AGAIN
Great Britain's Simon Burnett set the tone on the second
night of the Swimfit.com Commonwealth Games Trials in Sheffield
by opening the session with a British Record and qualification
time for Melbourne.
Loughborough University's Liam Tancock continued his form
as he added his name to the list to be considered for the
Games next year.
Burnett (Wycombe District) lowered his British record again
tonight in the 200m Freestyle to take gold in 1:46.59 and
post a Commonwealth Games consideration time for England.
Just one week ago, such an effort would have earned a World
Championship bronze for Burnett, who had to watch the event
from home.
"I'm so pleased," he beamed. "I came here
not knowing what to expect - I haven't swum long course properly
since Athens. I felt I had nothing to lose, so I might as
well go for it.
"I didn't swim this morning and had a bit of a lie in
which I think gave me that extra bit of pace that I was lacking
yesterday.
"The guys in the field were really pushing me and I
knew it was going to be tough."
In the same event, Loughborough University's Dave Carry set
a new Scottish record time of 1:48.32 for the silver and Ross
Davenport of University of Bath took bronze in a personal
best time of 1:48.84.
World Championship bronze medallist Tancock reaffirmed his
position as the country's number one sprint backstroker as
he collected gold in the 50m Backstroke within Commonwealth
selection standards.
Tancock dominated the race from the outset to touch more
than half a second ahead of the field in 25.17. University
of Bath's Matthew Clay won silver in 25.81 and City of Cardiff's
Gregor Tait took a tenth of a second off his Scottish record
to win bronze in 26.05.
"I felt really good after coming back from Montreal
and my aim here was to get a qualifying time, so I'm pretty
happy," said Tancock. "That was as fast as I felt
I could go. I have it within me to go sub-25 and it's not
a case of 'if' but 'when'."
Experience was the victor in the women's 50m Freestyle as
seasoned swimmer Lisa Chapman (Loughborough University) pipped
15-year-old Francesca Halsall (City of Liverpool) to the post.
Chapman swam a personal best time of 25.75 seconds for the
bronze and Halsall finished one hundredth of a second off
her lifetime best in 25.90. Loughborough University's Ros
Brett set a personal best time to win bronze in 26.14.
In the 100m Backstroke, British record holder Katy Sexton
showed she is returning to form after a forced break from
training post-Athens. The Portsmouth Northsea swimmer took
gold in 1:01.46 seconds ahead of British team-mate Mel Marshall
who swam home in 1:01.78. University of Bath's Joanna Fargus
finished third in 1:02.65 seconds.
Sexton, who was competing in Montreal last week, was happy
to take the title.
"I knew I had to go out fast because it was always going
to be a close race," she said. "But in the end I
managed to hang on and I have to be pleased with the time.
"It was a big effort and I'm shattered. My body feels
like it's in a different time zone and I knew I wasn't in
the shape to get the A qualifying time. I'm pleased that's
out the way though. I feel more relaxed and I'll be looking
forward to the 200m, although that's going to be a very hard
race."
British swimming stalwart Mark Foster just missed out on
qualification in the 50m Butterfly event after touching home
to take gold in 24.08 seconds. Welshman Owen Morgan (Kingston
Royals) lowered his national record to collect silver in 24.42
seconds and University of Bath's Matthew Clay won bronze in
24.64 seconds.
"I was hoping to go 23.79 to guarantee the spot but
it wasn't to be," said 35-year-old Foster. "I thought
I could go faster than that. It felt fine up to 35m then it
got tough, and then it got really tough.
"I've been concentrating more on the freestyle and I'm
looking to get a big block of weights and training in now
to help me qualify in December for the butterfly."
In the women's 200m Butterfly event, Britain's youngsters
showed they are keen to fill the gap left by Georgina Lee,
as the top three spots went to athletes aged 16 and below.
15-year-old European Junior bronze medallist Jessica Dickons
(Borough of Stockton) put in a display defying her years as
she stole the gold in 2:12.67 seconds. 16-year-old Stephanie
Johnson (Durham Aquatics) took silver in a new British age
group record of 2:12.86 and 13-year-old Ellen Gandy (Beckenham)
also set a new British age group record to collect bronze
in 2:12.86.
It was a one-two for Scotland in the 400m Individual Medley
as Carry collected gold ahead of countryman Euan Dale (Loughborough
University). Carry collected his second medal, and with it
his second Scottish record of the night as he clocked home
in 4:19.15. Dale finished in 4:19.60 and club mate Joe Roebuck
took bronze in 4:21.23 seconds.
In the 200m Breaststroke, Scotland's Kris Gilchrist was the
clear winner with a time of 2:14.51. Local swimmer James Kirton
(City of Sheffield) won silver in 2:15.42 and Joe Gannon of
City of Salford won bronze in 2:17.60.
In the women's 100m Breaststroke Loughborough University's
Kate Heywood was agonisingly close to qualifying with a gold-winning
time of 1:08.91. The next two medals fell to personal best
times as South Aberdeen's Kerry Buchan took silver in 1:09.77
and City of Sheffield's Debbie Hall won bronze in 1:11.13
seconds.
Britain's most decorated female swimmer Karen Pickering was
in action at a major meet for the last time tonight after
deciding to stand down from international swimming at the
end of a career spanning two decades.
Pickering, who will continue to swim for Ipswich, explained
why she has decided to retire from the top flight.
"The Commonwealth Games have always been really special
to me - they've always meant a lot and Sheffield has been
a very special pool," she said. "The first time
I swam here was in 1992 and I set a British record in the
100m Freestyle, so I wanted to swim here one last time.
"I've had 20 years of great support and I thank my friends
and family for putting up with me, it's been amazing and I
couldn't have done it without them. Speedo have shown continued
support for the last 10 years and my coach Dave Champion has
backed me all the way over the past 18 years. He's been really
positive and has urged me to continue when the going got tough.
"Looking back at my career, the 1993 World Championships
was a really special one as I was the first British female
medallist, and the Commonwealth Games in Manchester meant
a lot as I competed in front of a home crowd and my family
and friends."
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