IMPRESSIVE COOK HOLDS OWN IN FASTEST FINAL
Breaststroke swimmer Chris Cook flew the flag for Britain
as their only finalist on day two of the World Championships
in Montreal and in the fastest 100m final in the history of
the competition he finished a creditable sixth.
Cook (City of Newcastle), who qualified for Montreal in the
50m Breaststroke, kept his composure among the biggest names
in the 100m event and fought all the way to finish in 1:00.66.
Brendan Hansen of the U.S. took the gold in a Championship
Record 59.37, Kosuke Kitajima of Japan in 59.53 won silver
and Hugues Duboscq of France took the bronze in 1:00.20.
Cook, who until yesterday hadn’t ever gone below 1:01.27,
showed the strength of character that has so impressed National
Performance Director Bill Sweetenham as he posted his third
sub-1:01.00 time in two days.
“That was a very tough final with a class field and
I can take heart from my performance,” said Cook. “There
are a few things I know I need to work on but I’ve really
enjoyed the swims.
“There were a few things I tried out there to help my
performance but they didn’t work as I wanted them to
but you have to give it a go if you’re going to try
to get a result.”
For Cook the disappointment of his final was not bettering
his personal best time of 1:00.64.
“For me the most important part of breaststroke is the
first three strokes and I never really found them tonight.
When you get that part right your build on the rhythm but
it just didn’t quite catch in the final.
“I would have liked to have gone a bit faster but I’ve
got to take a lot of positives from my performance. I’m
loving my swimming and to be able to stand up there to represent
your country is an amazing sensation.”
British Swimming had three swimmers in contention for final
places with Liam Tancock, Kate Haywood and Dave Carry all
competing in semi-finals tonight.
Tancock (Loughborough University) looked to have done enough
to have secured a Men’s 100m Backstroke final spot when
he finished his semi-final in third in a new personal best
time of 55.07 but he missed out following a fast second semi-final
to finish 10th overall.
“It’s my first major international and I’m
really enjoying it so far,” said Tancock. I swam quite
well in the morning but my turn wasn’t there. Tonight
I managed to put that right to give myself a chance of making
the final but that second semi was too fast.
“It’s good to step up from the 50m and race against
the best in the world. I gave it my all tonight and was pleased
with my skills. It would have been nice to swim in tomorrow’s
final and I would have gone for a sub-55 second time but I’ll
have to look to the 50m event now.”
Team mate James Goddard (Stockport Metro) finished the morning
heats a place out of qualifying in 17th with a time of 55.66,
however, the standard was such that just 0.8 of a second separated
second to 17th place.
“It’s very disappointing,” said Goddard.
“Maybe I was a little nervous going into the 100m because
it’s not my strongest event. It was close to my best
time for a heat swim but it’s not good enough at this
level.”
Haywood also failed to make the final of the Women’s
100m Breaststroke after a brave effort.
The Loughborough University teenager, swimming in the second
semi-final, first watched Jessica Hardy of the U.S. break
the World Record for the event before she posted a time of
1:08.65 to finish 10th overall. Haywood said: “I’m
disappointed with that swim as I aimed to go slightly faster
tonight to make the final.
“I didn’t have anything left over the last 25m,
I kept thinking to myself that I could keep it going but I
struck out and my stroke went.”
Carry (Loughborough University) battled well in the Men’s
200m Freestyle semi-final but his time of 1:48.79 wasn’t
enough to see him through and he finished in 12th place.
City of Glasgow’s Rebecca Cooke impressively won the
heats of the Women’s 1500m Freestyle to qualify fastest
for tomorrow’s final.
She went 16:15.69 to put her a second off her own British
Record but she looks in good shape ahead of the final.
Cooke said: “That was a great heat swim for me. It’s
my second fastest time over 1500m and I’m really looking
forward to the final.
Head Coach Ian Turner took a lot of positives from the action
on day two and is pleased at the position the team is in going
into some of the stronger days of the competition.
“Three of the four people who swam tonight are at their
first major international competition,” explained Turner.
“Yet they all back-ended their swims and showed good
skills. They handled themselves very well.
“They worked well off the walls and Liam Tancock was
exceptional to give himself every chance of making the final.
“It’s frustrating in some respects because if
they had gone just a fraction quicker, and bettered their
best times, they’d all be in their respective finals.
“The good side of things is that they’re solid
and not wilting at the end of their swims. They’re back
ends have been very good and all swimmers are swimming faster
from heats to semi-finals.”
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