TEN SWIMMERS BOOKED FOR WORLD CHAMPS TRIP
Great Britain's swimmers doubled the contingent headed for
Montreal as a further five athletes qualified at the ASDA
British Swimming World Championship Trials in Manchester.
Olympic bronze medallist David Davies was first to book himself
a place in the squad after a nail-biting race against the
clock in the 1500m freestyle.
The Cardiff swimmer finished almost a length ahead of the
field to clock a time of 15.07.24 seconds, four tenths of
a second faster than his performance in yesterday's semi-final
and more than a second below the 15:08.99 seconds qualification
standard.
"I'm relieved to have got the qualifying time but it's
20 seconds off my best, so that's disappointing," said
Davies. "I went out really hard and paid for it coming
back.
"I feel very tired. I changed my taper and don't think
it quite worked. I think I would hav eswam a lot faster last
week, but this week I just feel lethargic. I think I needed
a lot more rest."
It was a battle for the remaining podium places between Australia-based
Durham Aquatics swimmer Chris Alderton and open water specialist
Alan Bircher (University of Bath). Alderton touched first
in a European Junior Championships qualifying time of 15.29.32
seconds - a personal best - and Bircher took bronze in 15.30.59
seconds.
Caitlin McClatchey (Loughborough University) destroyed an
18-year-old Scottish record in the 400m freestyle to secure
her place in Montreal. The 19-year-old, who was third fastest
into the final, brought it home in the last 100m to touch
two seconds ahead of Commonwealth Champion Rebecca Cooke (City
of Glasgow) and five seconds below the Scottish record set
by Ruth Gilfillan in 1987.
"That was a great performance," said a delighted
McClatchey. "I never expected to make the World qualifying
time - that was just a massive improvement for me.
"I want to go on from here and put in a big block of
training and then go to the Worlds looking to improve even
more."
Cooke couldn't make it a third title at these 2005 Championships
and took silver in 4:11.78 seconds. Defending champion Joanne
Jackson (Durham University) could only manage bronze in 4:11.90
seconds.
After failing to qualify for the 100m breaststroke earlier
this week, Loughborough University's Kate Haywood managed
a personal best time in the 50m event to secure her place
in Montreal.
Her time of 31.45 seconds was one second ahead of silver
medallist Grace Callaghan (City of Coventry) and two in front
of bronze-placed Rachael Wilson (Durham Aquatics).
"I was annoyed with myself earlier in the week, but
made amends for it tonight to secure a spot on the squad,"
said Haywood.
"Sometimes it's hard not to over-rev and ruin your stroke,
and that's what I did in the 100m breaststroke earlier in
the week. I got it right tonight, however, as I had to show
that I could do it."
British rivals James Goddard (Stockport Metro) and Gregor
Tait (City of Cardiff) reversed the fortunes of Thursday's
100m backstroke as Tait swam a World qualifying time of 1:58.59
seconds to take gold.
Goddard, who has already qualified for the Championships,
finished second in 1:59.01 seconds and his Stockport team
mate Stephen Mellor won bronze in a personal best time of
2:03.38 seconds.
"It's always close between James and I," said Tait.
"I knew I had to go hard to stand a chance of beating
him.
"I got a lot of speed off the first 100m and it hurt
like hell on the way back. I just came here to make the team
and I'm going now, but it's always a pleasure to race a world-class
athlete like James."
The tenth British swimmer to be added to the Montreal squad
was University of Bath's Darren Mew who equalled the qualification
time of 1:01.28 seconds in the 100m breaststroke to book his
place on the Canada trip.
"I'm just really relieved to make the team as I haven't
done much training due to my operation and injury," admitted
Mew. "To be honest I thought I'd missed my chance in
the 50m.
"To go as quick as that without a lot of training due
to an operation late last year and a broken hand five weeks
ago, it's pretty remarkable."
50m breaststroke champion James Gibson (Loughborough University)
won silver in 1:01.61 seconds and Chris Cook of City of Newcastle
took bronze in 1:01.63 seconds.
There was upset in the men's 50m freestyle as British record
holder Mark Foster was denied the top spot by team mate Matthew
Tutty (University of Bath). Tutty set a new personal best
time of 22.77 seconds to win, Chris Cozens of Loughborough
University took silver in 22.88 seconds and Foster was pushed
back into third place after clocking a time of 23.09 seconds.
Melanie Marshall, who competed in two finals this evening,
was again agonisingly close to the qualification standards
for the World Championships.
Marshall was within reach of the qualifying time as she won
gold in the 100m freestyle in 55.40 seconds and even closer
in the 200m backstroke where she missed out by two tenths
of a second.
In the freestyle event, Julia Beckett (also of Loughborough
University) took silver in 56.87 seconds and 14-year-old Francesca
Halsall (City of Liverpool) won the bronze and qualified for
the European Junior Championships in 56.90 seconds.
In the 200m backstroke, 23-year-old Marshall made a dash
down the final 15m to come from behind and touch home in first
position in 2:12.38 seconds. Gemma Spofforth (Portsmouth Northsea),
who won the 50m and 100m backstroke titles earlier this week,
won silver in 2:12.93 seconds and fastest qualifier into the
final Karen Lee (Loughborough University) won bronze in 2:13.36
seconds.
In the men's 200m butterfly final, Loughborough University's
Matt Edwards won gold in 1:59.75 seconds, but was nearly three
seconds outside the qualification standard of 1:56.92 seconds.
Mark Lewis of Stirling won the silver in 1:59.77 seconds
and Edwards' club mate Matthew Bowe took bronze in 2:00.03
seconds.
Rosalind Brett (Loughborough University) won the 50m butterfly
but was not fast enough to qualify for the Worlds this time,
touching home in 27.18 seconds. Sarah Healey (also of Loughborough)
won silver in 27.83 seconds and Nova Centurion's Stephanie
Hill won bronze in a personal best time of 27.90 seconds.
Loughborough University swimmers continued to dominate the
medals and in the final event of the afternoon, Loughborough
students Euan Dale and Joe Roebuck did the one-two in the
400m individual medley.
Dale won gold in 4:22.73 seconds, Roebuck won silver in 4:25.95
seconds and City of Cardiff's Thomas Haffield finished third
in a European Junior Championships qualification time of 4:28.00
seconds.
Today's five qualifiers join James Gibson (Loughborough University),
Kirsty Balfour (City of Edinburgh) and James Goddard (Stockport
Metro) who swam within the qualification times on Thursday
and Rebecca Cooke (City of Glasgow) and Liam Tancock (Loughborough
University) who were added to the list yesterday.
Swimmers who failed to make the standard will have a second
chance to get on the team at a British Swimming stage three
meet to be held in June.
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