COOK UPSETS BRITISH ORDER WITH BREASTSTROKE GOLD
Swimmer Chris Cook continued to upset the hierarchy of British
Swimming's breaststroke men by claiming victory over his close
rivals at the Canet leg of the Mare Nostrum tour.
The City of Newcastle swimmer has showed strength and consistency
over recent outings and he did so again in Canet this evening
to win the Men's 100m event from a field including Darren
Mew (University of Bath) and James Gibson (Loughborough University).
Cook, who has been ranked behind both Mew and Gibson in the
British pecking order, took gold in 1:01.77 ahead of Mew in
the silver spot on 1:02.07 and Russian Grigory Falko was third
in 1:02.28. Gibson was fifth in 1:02.44.
It continues a rich vein of form for the Geordie who took
gold last weekend in the same event at the Mare Nostrum in
Barcelona.
On the final day in France Todd Cooper (Stirling) took the
silver in the 100m Butterfly in 52.88 when he finished behind
European Record holder Andrei Serdinov of the Ukraine in 52.19.
Bronze went to Evgeny Korotyshkin in 52.96.
University of Bath sprinter Mark Foster was in action in
the 50m Freestyle Final and came home fifth in 22.88. Gold
went to David Maitre of France in 22.50.
City of Edinburgh's Kirsty Balfour won the 100m Breaststroke
B Final in 1:11.11 with the A Final going to Beata Kaminska
of Poland in 1:10.07.
Britain's young contingent put in some solid performances
under tough conditions and Lizzie Simmonds (Lincoln Vulcans)
lead the way with a fifth place in the final of the 200m Backstroke
in 2:16.90. Esther Baron of France won the event in 2:13.14.
Simmonds was in action earlier in the programme and the teenager
finished sixth in the 200m Individual Medley in a time of
2:22.37. Gold went to Jing Liu of China in 2:16.89.
In the B Final Borough of Stockton swimmers Jemma Lowe and
Jessica Dickons finished second and fourth respectively in
2:22.19 and 2:24.29.
Lowe and Dickons also contested the 100m Butterfly and finished
the B Final in fourth and seventh places. Lowe went 1:02.57
and Dickons touched in 1:03.48.
Head coach Graham Bassi and the small squad leave Canet tomorrow
for the next leg at the weekend in Rome.
Bassi said: "It was a good night for Chris (Cook) and
he looked very controlled in his swim. He was well worth his
victory and continues to shine. Both Darren (Mew) and James
(Gibson) can also take positives from their outings.
"The three youngsters found the going tough after a
rough day in the open air pool yesterday. They're tired but
acquitted themselves well.
"We need to pick them up now and look to our final leg
in Rome where I'm sure they'll put in place valuable lessons
they've learned. This tour is all about learning and I'm sure
they'll be back to they're best at the weekend."
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