SMALL SWIM SQUAD SHOWS STRENGTH IN FRANCE
A reduced British squad has competed at a gusty Mare Nostrum
in Canet, France and added a further three medals to their
growing tally in Europe.
Junior swimmers Lizzie Simmonds (Lincoln Vulcans), Jessica
Dickons and Jemma Lowe (both Borough of Stockton) all made
their respective finals with Simmonds and Dickons picking
up a bronze apiece.
Simmonds, who has already won two silvers at the Barcelona
leg of the competition, took bronze in the 100m Backstroke
with a time of 1:03.66 seconds, despite competing against
winds up to 30mph.
China's Chen Yanyan won the gold in 1:02.22 seconds and Stanislava
Komarova of Russia picked up silver in 1:02.58 seconds.
With the departure of British team mate Terri Dunning on
Sunday, Dickons was able to move up a position and take the
bronze in the 200m Butterfly. Her time of 2:14.01 seconds
- more than half a second faster than the time she set in
Barcelona - secured her the podium finish.
Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak set a new championship record
of 2:07.90 to finish clear ahead of the field and silver medallist
Mette Jacobsen of Denmark who touched home in 2:11.54 seconds.
Jemma Lowe also improved on Saturday's placing in Barcelona
and finished fifth in 2:14.44 seconds.
Kirsty Balfour, who is in France with a small squad from
Scotland, was Britain's highest medallist with a silver in
the 200m Breaststroke. Balfour was just behind leader Mirna
Jukic (Austria) to clock a time of 2:28.87 seconds. Poland's
Katarzina Dulian took bronze in 2:30.05 seconds.
Head Coach Graham Bassi has been impressed with the efforts
of his young charges:
"It's been a good experience for the girls," he
said. "They've all made the finals in difficult conditions
in an outdoor pool and put in strong swims to medal.
"We travelled from Barcelona and trained twice yesterday
and I'm impressed with the way they've approached the competition.
"We've been working on their warm-up and race preparation
and they've shown real maturity taking the information on
board and thinking for themselves.
"As well as putting their training into practice, a
major aim of these meets for us is to get the swimmers used
to being on the road and having to race at regular intervals.
They're staring to feel tired now, but they're all swimming
through.
"All the girls have taken an extremely professional
approach, which is encouraging for the future. I'm really
pleased with the way they've handled it and what has impressed
me the most is that we have junior swimmers making the A finals
while some senior swimmers are just making the B's."
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