COOK DELIVERS IN BARCELONA
Great Britain's Chris Cook scooped gold in the 50m Breaststroke
on day one of the Mare Nostrum in Barcelona as the British
team picked up a quintet of medals.
The City of Newcastle swimmer put in a strong performance
to take the top spot in a time of 28.11 seconds. Jarno Pihlava
took silver in 28.74 and Riccardo Bartoli won bronze in 29
seconds flat. Cook's team mate Darren Mew (of University of
Bath) was just outside the medals with a time of 29.03 seconds.
Also in the medals was 14-year-old Elizabeth Simmonds (Lincoln
Vulcans), whose personal best performance of 2:13.68 saw her
take silver in the women's 200m backstroke.
She was more than a second behind winner Stanislava Kamorova
who won in a time of 2:12.01 seconds, but was clear ahead
of bronze medallist Duane Rocha Araujo who finished in 2:15.53
seconds. Brit Stephanie Proud (Chester le Street) clocked
in fourth in 2:16.02 seconds.
Olympic finalist Gregor Tait won bronze in the men's 200m
Backstroke. His time of 2:01.16 secured him a podium place
ahead of teammate James Goddard, who finished in 2:01.76 seconds.
Romania's Razvan Florea dipped below the two-minute mark to
win gold in 1:59.77 seconds and Austria's Markus Rogan took
silver in 2:00.22 seconds.
A trio of Brits competed in the women's 200m butterfly final
with City of Birmingham's Terri Dunning taking the bronze
in 2:13.84 seconds. Jessica Dickons of Borough of Stockton
finished fourth in 2:14.53 seconds and Stockton's Jemma Lowe
was 6th in 2:15.09 seconds.
Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak won gold in 2:10.31 seconds and
Mireia Garcia Sanchez was silver medalliust in 2:13.26 seconds.
The final Brit to make the podium was Loughborough University's
Joe Roebuck. The 19-year-old clocked home in 2:04.81 in the
200m Individual Medley to take bronze behind Hungary's Laszlo
Cseh who finished first in 1:59.87 seconds and Holland's Robin
van Aggele who took silver in 2:04.33 seconds.
Also in this evening's finals were Mark Lewis (Lewisham),
Matt Bowe (Loughborough University) and Todd Cooper (Stirling),
who finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in the men's
200m Butterfly and Kris Gilchrist (City of Edinburgh) finished
fourth in the 200m Breaststroke.
Mark Foster was outside the medals in both his events, finishing
5th in the 50m Butterfly in a time of 24.45 seconds and 6th
in the 50m Freestyle in 23.45 seconds.
British coach Sean Kelly was happy with the squad's
performance:
"Everyone swam really well this evening," he said.
"It was really tough as they've not broken from training.
It was a mental effort rather than a physical one. It's hard
to get your head round racing when you're still in training
- it takes courage and real mental strength.
"We're moving into racing season which means racing
against some quality athletes. We had three girls in the 200m
Butterfly final racing against the Olympic gold medallist
and world record holder, which is something you don't get
very often.
"None of them were fazed; they got right in there and
were exposed to great competition, which stands them in good
stead for the big meets in the future. There were a few PBs
today and not just from those taking the medals.
"Tomorrow we hope to be able to improve on today and
perform better in the heats. When you're in training it takes
a race or two to get going and build momentum, so we're hoping
for a better day tomorrow."
The Barcelona Mare Nostrum takes place from 4-5 June at
Club Natació Sant Andreu in Spain. Heats begin a 9.30am
and finals are at 4pm local time.
British swimmers taking part are: Keri Anne
Payne (Stockport Metro), Terri Dunning (City of Birmingham),
James Goddard (Stockport Metro), Simon Birch (Stockport Metro),
Gregor Tait (City of Cardiff), Ross Hughes (Stirling), Arthur
Downing (City of Sheffield), Stephanie Proud (Chester le Street),
Hollie O`Connor (Kingston upon Hull), Matt Bowe (Loughborough
University), Stephen Mellor (Stockport Metro), Tom Haffield
(City of Cardiff), Mark Lewis (Lewisham), Joe Roebuck (Loughborough
University), David Davies (City of Cardiff), Chris Cook -
training (City of Newcastle), Lizzie Simmonds (Lincoln Vulcans),
Jess Dickons (Borough of Stockton), Jemma Lowe (Stockton),
Mark Foster (University of Bath), Darren Mew (University of
Bath).
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