BIRCHER SWIMS TO VICTORY IN LONDON
Great Britain's Alan Bircher is well on the way to another
European Swimming Cup series victory after winning the British
leg of the 10k competition in London.
The 23-year-old dominated the field in the LEN event, which
doubled up as the British Championships, to swim home in sub-two
hours and a clear two minutes ahead of the field.
British team-mate David Proud made it a one-two for the home
team after a thrilling finish at the Royal Albert Docks.
University of Bath's Bircher made his mark in first straight
and had already established a clear lead after the opening
100m. He kept a steady pace and gradually extended his lead
to take both British and European titles with what seemed
like effortless ease in 1:56.39 minutes.
Proud put in a consistent performance to stay within the
chasing group and after 6k took control to lead the pack.
The lead exchanged numerous times between the Manchester swimmer
and rivals Alexander Studziuski of Germany and Switzerland's
Branko Milosevic as swimmers battled to take the last two
podium places.
Sprint power won over stamina as Proud widened his lead over
the 25k specialists in the final 100m to seal the silver with
a time of 1:58.36 minutes. Czechoslovakia's Rostislav Vitek
took bronze in 1:58.41 minutes.
In the British Championships, City of Glasgow's Jamie Forrest
took bronze with a time of 2:01.01 minutes.
Gold medallist Bircher admitted that he hadn't planned
to take such a lead early on:
"I always have plans but rarely follow them," he
admitted. "I swam like that in Durban last year and it
didn't pay off, so I was worried on the last lap that I might
get caught.
"I swam the first lap hard, eased off on the second
and then gave it the big push in the third. My last circuit
was sluggish. I've been covering a lot of metres in training
recently and it showed. I was really surprised I had the speed
to break away in the first place.
"I've won the European Cup twice before and really want
to get it again so it was important for me to get the points
on the board today. If I win another meet I should take the
title.
"It's a strong field tomorrow. Thomas Lurz, the World
Champion, is competing and he's been rested today so it will
be tough."
Silver medallist Proud was happy with his medal:
"I was aiming to get the silver," he said. "I
knew Alan would be ahead of the field and so I was hoping
to finish behind him and get the points.
"After Seville, my swimming was pretty average but last
week I swam really well and that was a big confidence boost.
"I went out hard to try and break the pack up and by
the 5k mark we'd dropped a couple off. There were four of
us competing for the last two podium spots and I knew that
if I could keep with them I should be able to use my pace
on the sprint home.
"About three quarters of the way through I put a burst
in to try and shake them off but I couldn't get away. It was
a game of cat and mouse, but with 300m to go I got my legs
going and they saw me in."
Germans Stefanie Biller and Annegret Braum dominated the
women's competition early on. The pair led from the start,
taking a small group of swimmers which included Czechoslovakian
Yvetta Hlavacova.
Approaching the halfway point, Biller and Hlavacova made
a break and lengthened their lead which they held for the
final 5k. The pair were neck and neck as they approached the
final 100m, but Biller edged ahead to finish in 2:06.21 minutes
and take gold while silver went to Hlavacova in 2:06.23 minutes.
The battle was on between Braumm and Spaniard Esther Morerd
for the final podium spot, but the German pulled it in the
final 100m to break away and grad the bronze in 2:07.58 minutes.
18-year-old Brit Erica Brown (Chesterfield) put in a gutsy
performance in her first 10k event and lead the second group
for the best part of the race.
Her performance earned her bronze in the British event with
a time of 2:17.27 minutes, behind Sinead Doherty (City of
Glasgow) and Jo-ann McGarvey (Ren 96) who finished in 2:14.56
minutes and 2:17.06 minutes respectively.
The LEN European Cup takes place from 10.30am
on Saturday 11 June and the FINA 10k Marathon takes place
at 2.30pm on Sunday 11 July at the Royal Albert Docks in London.
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