BALFOUR AND SIMMONDS COMPLETE EUROPEAN MEDAL HAUL
Britain's Kirsty Balfour enhanced her reputation as arguably
Europe's best female breaststroke swimmer when she added a
European Short Course 100m silver tonight to the gold she
won in the 200m event two days before in Helsinki.
Her double success, on the back of a European Long Course
title earlier this year in the 200m Breaststroke and a bronze
in the 100m event, is a clear indicator of the calibre of
the City of Edinburgh swimmer now ranked up there with the
very best in the world.
The 22-year-old is more equipped for the 200m event but showed
real pace to take the silver in the shorter race in a time
just outside her own British Record.
Gold went to Anna Khlistunova of the Ukraine in 1:05.73,
Balfour took the silver in 1:06.57 and Janne Schaefer of Germany
the bronze in 1:07.32. Britain's Kate Haywood (Loughborough
University) was sixth in 1:07.84.
"I was really excited during that race," said Balfour.
"I didn't know where I was in the big scheme of things
as I could only see Anna out in front and didn't know where
the other girls were.
"I'm delighted to take the silver as I'm more of a 200m
swimmer. I knew I was behind at the first 50m but just tried
to catch them up and it worked.
"It's been a great year for me with medals at the Commonwealths,
two European titles and two European medals. I'm looking forward
now to the World Championships in March and have been preparing
for that throughout this meet which makes these medals even
more of an achievement for me."
Britain's squad of 30 swimmers have used the four-day European
Championships to highlight areas of their performance that
need to be worked upon before the World Championships in Melbourne.
While most of the field have been rested for the event and
properly prepared, the British contingent have been in heavy
training and their total of eight medals for the meet will
provide a real boost and confidence to the team given their
lack of race preparation.
Britain's youngest swimmer took her second medal of the European
Championship when 15-year-old Lizzie Simmonds grabbed a bronze
in the Women's 200m Backstroke in an impressive personal best
time.
The Lincoln Vulcans swimmer took two-and-a-half seconds off
her best time as she qualified for the final and then took
bronze in a very experienced field.
Esther Baron of France took the gold in 2:04.08, Iryna Amshennikova
the silver in 2:04.57 and Simmonds came home in 2:05.74 to
take the bronze.
"That was a fantastic swim," said Simmonds. "I'm
just buzzing at the moment. I could see the girls next to
me but couldn't see anyone else and just gave it my all.
"To go that fast and to pick up another medal to add
to my medley relay bronze is just amazing. I'm just so pleased
I was able to bring it back as quick as that and add another
one to the team."
City of Liverpool teenager Fran Halsall continued her impressive
meet with a great battle in the Women's 50m Freestyle but
she missed out by the smallest of margins on a deserved bronze.
The sixteen-year-old finished fourth in 24.58 with Hanna-Maria
Seppala of Finland pinching the bronze in 24.57, silver went
to Therese Alshammar of Sweden in 23.76, and Marleen Veldhuis
of the Netherlands won gold in 23.69.
Becky Cooke (City of Glasgow) went in the Women's 400m Individual
Medley final and placed sixth in 4:40.27 and Kris Gilchrist
(City of Edinburgh) was also sixth in the Men's 200m Breaststroke
in 2:09.40.
Britain had two swimmer's in the final of the Women's 200m
Freestyle but training had taken it's toll on Jo Jackson (Derwentside)
and Mel Marshall and they finished in seventh and eighth with
times of 1:56.90 and 1:56.95 respectively.
Terri Dunning (City of Birmingham) was fifth in the final
of the Women's 100m Butterfly in 59.02 while team mate Ros
Brett (Loughborough University) finished eighth in 1:00.06.
In the Men's 100m Backstroke Gregor Tait (City of Edinburgh)
narrowly missed out on a medal when he finished fourth in
52.48 while Matt Clay (Swansea Performance) was sixth in 52.78.
Britain's 4x50m Freestyle Relay team finished the meet with
a sixth place in a World Record final. Chris Cozens (University
of Bath), Ben Hockin (Swansea Performance), Liam Tancock (Loughborough
University) and Todd Cooper (Stirling) finished in 1:27.56
with Sweden taking gold in 1:24.89.
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