BRITAIN CLAIM TWO MEDALS ON DAY ONE IN HELSINKI
British teenager Jess Dickons announced her arrival onto
the senior international swimming circuit with a bronze medal
and a new British Record on day one of the European Short
Course Championships in Helsinki.
The 16-year-old Stockton swimmer gave the performance of
her young career so far to drop her personal best time for
the Women's 200m Butterfly by over four seconds as she claimed
the bronze in a race that saw gold go in a new European Record
time.
Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak won in a time of 2:04.94 with
Beatrix Boulsevicz of Hungary taking the silver in 2:06.73
while Dickons, whose previous best had stood at 2:11.52 at
the start of the day, touched to take bronze in 2:07.36 and
beat the previous best British time of 2:08.03.
"It's my first international medal at my first international
meet," said Dickons. "I just can't believe it. It
wasn't something I expected when I made the squad and to get
the British Record just tops it all off.
"I've dropped my personal best by a massive amount through
the heat and into the final, and I'm looking forward now to
seeing how low I can get it as I grow into my event."
Kate Haywood (Loughborough University) also made it onto
the rostrum in an explosive Women's 50m Breaststroke when
she took the silver despite a disappointing start.
Gold went to Germany's Janne Schaefer in 30.43, Haywood touched
in 30.88 and Elena Bogomazova of Russia won the bronze in
30.98.
"I didn't get the perfect start as it was just too slow
but I came good in the end," said Haywood. "I've
been working on starts and turns, and I'm tightening them
up all the time to improve my race, but the size of Germany's
Janne was the difference tonight.
"It's a new best time and an improvement on last year
where I won bronze so I'm heading in the right direction and
considering I'm not rested like some of the athletes it's
a real positive swim.
"There's more work to be done but I'm confident I can
improve as the meet goes on and I'm looking forward to the
100m event."
British backstroke men James Goddard (Stockport Metro) and
Gregor Tait (City of Edinburgh) went in the final of the Men's
200m event and narrowly missed out on the medals in fourth
and fifth place respectively.
Goddard finished in 1:54.30 and Tait in 1:54.48 when they
needed to beat 1:53.71 to get onto the podium.
"It's always disappointing to finish fourth," said
Goddard. "I thought I could squeeze a medal tonight but
that was a fast race with a new European Record and without
being properly rested for the race I couldn't get near that
pace."
Tait was pleased with his performance given the levels of
work he's been doing over the past two months.
"I'm happy with that swim because it was a strong performance
while I'm in heavy training," said Tait. "As long
as we get in there and race hard while we're not rested we
have to be pleased and that was a tough race."
City of Newcastle swimmer Chris Cook put himself in contention
for the medals tomorrow when he qualified fourth fastest for
the final of the Men's 100m Breaststroke in a time of 59.39.
"I'm pretty happy with my race," said Cook. "It
was solid and has given me a chance in tomorrow's final. It's
hard when everyone is rested and you're not but that's what
this event is about for us as we're using it to prepare for
the World Championships.
"It was a fast time for me considering I swam 60km last
week and it's where I want to be at this stage of the season."
Another British teenager to impress on day one of the Helsinki
championships was Fran Halsall (16) from City of Liverpool.
Halsall just missed out on a seven-year-old British Record
in the semi-final of the Women's 100m Freestyle when she finished
second in 53.39 to qualify fourth fastest into tomorrow's
final.
"I'm surprised at how fast that was," said Halsall.
"I'm not quite sure where the speed came from as I'm
not race prepared for this event.
"There were some big girls in there but mentally I block
them out and just concentrate on my race. I just hope I can
give it something extra tomorrow."
Fifteen-year-old Lizzie Simmonds will be fighting it out
for the medals in the Women's 100m Backstroke final tomorrow
after she qualified eighth fastest in 59.82.
The British team will be without the experience of Commonwealth
Champion David Carry for the rest of the meet after the Loughborough
University swimmer was forced to retire from the competition
with a flu-type virus.
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