TANCOCK LOWERS BACKSTROKE BAR
Loughborough University's Liam Tancock set a new British
record as two more swimmers were added to the squad for Canada
at the ASDA British Swimming World Championship Trials in
Manchester.
Tancock lowered his own standard in the 50m backstroke to
qualify for this summer's Championships, knocking more than
two tenths of a second off his previous best to take gold
in 25.38 seconds.
"I was well happy with that swim," he said. "I
didn't get an amazing start, but after that the race came
together for me and I came home with a PB, a British record
and a qualifying time.
"It puts me on my first senior team and gives me something
to aim for in the summer. I want to go to the Worlds, swim
as best as I can and then book a place on the Commonwealth
Games team."
Matt Clay of University of Bath won silver in 25.77 seconds
and Marco Loughran of Guildford City was bronze medallist
with a time of 27.45 seconds.
Commonwealth Games Champion Rebecca Cooke (City of Glasgow)
performed well once more at the Aquatic Centre and posted
a personal best time well within the World Championship qualification
standard to win gold in the 800m freestyle.
The Glasgow University student swam home in 8:28.30 seconds
to win the event for the fifth year in a row. Local girl Keri-Anne
Payne (Stockport), who won the event at last year's ASA Championships
and was on Cooke's shoulder until the final 100m, took silver
in a lifetime best time of 8:31.77 seconds and bronze went
to Nova Centurion's Rebecca Adlington in 8:45.38 seconds.
"I've been swimming well and the personal best was testament
to that," said Cooke. "There has been a lot of racing
this week with the 400m events, the 200m and the 800m. It
was good preparation and set me up nicely for tonight.
"I certainly feel pleased that I'm at my best at this
stage of the season and it's a huge relief to get the qualifying
time out of the way. It allows me to concentrate solely on
training and without having to rest to get the time at stage
three."
In the 200m individual medley final, it took a personal best
time for 16-year-old Stacey Tadd (University of Bath) to take
the title and swim a qualification time for the European Junior
Championships of 2:16.96 seconds.
In the same event, Lincoln Vulcans' 14-year-old talent Lizzie
Simmonds collected her third medal of the Championships with
a silver-winning performance that equalled her personal best
time of 2:18.72 seconds. Loughborough University's Natalie
Effemey won bronze in 2:19.62 seconds.
After qualifying for the Worlds in the 100m breaststroke
earlier this week, City of Edinburgh's Kirsty Balfour failed
to make the grade in the 200m event but was fastest in the
field and took gold in 2:28.40 seconds.
Nova Centurion's Amy Konowalik won silver in 2:31.52 and
Stacey Tadd took her second medal of the night with bronze
in 2:32.82 seconds.
David Carry was unable to improve upon his semi-final performance
in the 200m freestyle and once again missed the qualification
standard, despite taking gold in a time of 1:48.48 seconds.
The Scottish swimmer was philosophical about his performance.
"It was all about racing and not about the time tonight,"
he said. "Ross and I train together and are so close
our races were almost carbon copies of each other. It's an
amazing feeling to have someone on your shoulder pushing you
all the way.
"My aim was always to go to stage three and to bring
my time down even further, but I have to be happy with this
week. I've taken 1.4 seconds off my PB and my racing has a
real edge.
"I'm delighted with the way training has been going,
I'm really happy with swimming and it shows when I compete."
University of Bath's Ross Davenport won silver in 1:48.50
seconds and Millfield's Edward Sinclair took bronze in 1:51.20
seconds.
Jessica Dickons of Borough of Stockton won her first senior
title in the 200m butterfly with a time of 2:11.80 seconds
- a clear ten seconds below the European Youth Olympics qualification
standard.
City of Birmingham's Terri Dunning won silver in 2:12.88
seconds and 13-year-old Ellen Gandy (Beckenham) knocked nearly
two seconds off the personal best she set in the semi-final
to win bronze in 2:13.65 seconds.
In the last semi-finals of the meet, Loughborough University's
Kate Haywood threatened the World Championships qualification
standard, swimming just two hundredths of a second off the
mark in the 50m breaststroke with a time of 31.59 seconds.
British 50m Backstroke Champion James Goddard will be aiming
for a second gold tomorrow night after securing a lane four
start in the 100m event.
Scot Mark Lewis (Stirling) qualified fastest for the 200m
butterfly final and Loughborough University swimmers Julia
Beckett and Mel Marshall were joint fastest after the semi-final
of the 100m freestyle. Marshall also qualified for the 200m
backstroke final behind club mate Karen Lee who goes through
in pole position.
Fellow Loughborough boy Chris Cozens is fastest through to
the finals of the 50m freestyle and Karen Lee and Rosalind
Brett lead the field into the finals of women's 200m backstroke
and 50m butterfly.
|