YOUTH SWIMMERS IMPRESS ON AUSSIE TOUR
Some of Britain's finest youth swimmers have ended their
tour of Australia at the Queensland Open and Age Group Championships
with a staggering 71 medals.
The 26-strong squad travelled to Australia for the six-day
event to compete against top class opposition in their age
groups and open events and gain valuable experience to prepare
them for the move onto the senior squad.
Like their senior counterparts, swimmers have not fully tapered
for the event but benefited from a training camp before heading
into competition.
John Atkinson, British Swimming Director of World Class Programmes
believes this is the best ever youth team performance at an
international meet.
"The pre-event objectives were to go away and train
hard up to the event, and look to reduce the intensity before
competition and produce good performances in the pool,"
said Atkinson.
"The team has surpassed all expectations, and to come
away with 26 golds is a achievement they should be proud of."
Because of a limit on the number of foreign swimmers able
to progress from the heats to the finals, athletes were forced
to swim hard in the heats in order to make it through to the
finals in the evening.
The fact that many swimmers finished in the top eight, but
were the third British athlete to finish in the heats underlines
the strength of the current youth team.
The rules for progression into the finals meant that Britain
missed out on other possible medal wins.
"In the Age Groups, only two swimmers from teams outside
of the Queensland state could progress through to the finals,"
explained Atkinson.
"In some events, we actually had the three fastest swimmers
from the heats but the rules meant only two were able to go
through. So in a way, we could have walked away with more
medals then we did."
"We ended up becoming our own opposition to set the
fastest times in the heats. Those performances then had to
be replicated in the finals to claim the medal places."
The final day of competition saw the British squad win eight
medals to finish what has been an impressive six days of competitive
swimming.
Xavier Mohammed (Bexley) added two more gold medals to the
British tally. He took wins in the boys 16yrs 400m Individual
Medley in a time of 4.28.77, and then followed this up with
a win in the 100m Backstroke, taking the medal in a time of
58.20.
Ellen Gandy (Beckenham) took gold in the girls 15yrs 200m
Freestyle, touching home in 2.02.77 and Peter Thompson (Middlesborough)
won gold in the boys 16yrs 200m Butterfly in a time of 2.02.64.
Lauren Collins (City of Birmingham) took silver in the girls
15yrs 200m Backstroke in a time of 2.17.79, ahead of team-mate
Emma Smithurst (City of Derby) who took bronze in 2.21.06.
Andrew Rodgie (Carnegie) won bronze in the boys 17yrs and
over 400m Individual Medley in a time of 4.44.69. Fern Davies
(City of Birmingham) won bronze in the girls 14yrs 200m Individual
Medley in 2.21.84
In total, the squad takes home 26 gold, 26 silver and 19
bronze medals. The British medal tally was aided by a number
of boys from the Offshore Centre competing alongside them.
John Atkinson was keen to point out that this was down to
"staff, as well as the swimmers" and praised all
those involved in the tour.
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