TOP FORM MARSHALL SETS EURO STANDARD
Mel Marshall showed the form of her life to set a new European
Record and win gold in the 200m Freestyle at the FINA World
Cup in Berlin.
The Loughborough swimmer, who collected three medals (including
gold over 200m) at the Stockholm leg earlier this week, touched
home for her best time in over two years, despite being in
heavy training through the meet.
Marshall beat off Annika Liebs of Germany (silver, 1:55.19)
and Romania's Camelia Potec (bronze, 1:57.70) to secure the
gold in 1:54.53. Her lifetime best was one of 14 set by British
swimmers today alone.
"When I started to swim well in Stockholm, I knew I
could do something here," admitted Marshall. "I'm
training through the meet, so I'm really pleased with my performance.
"I was ill last November which I think affected my performance
in Trieste, but I'm through it now and I've had a good workout
in Gran Canaria this month so it's onwards and upwards.
"I'm swimming happy at the moment. I've realised what
makes me happy in swimming and that's getting out there and
having my two minutes of fun. I'm not searching for loads
of medals - I'm searching to do the best I can, and that's
working for me at the moment."
After setting a new British Record in the 200m Breaststroke
in Stockholm, Kirsty Balfour (City of Edinburgh) repeated
the performance in the 100m event. Her time of 1:06.51 won
her silver ahead of British teammate Kate Haywood (Loughborough
University) who won bronze in 1:06.74. Tara Kirk of the USA
won gold in 1:05.63.
In the men's 200m Breaststroke, Kris Gilchrist (City of Edinburgh)
missed on the touch to take bronze in a new personal best
time of 2:08.44 behind Hugues Duboscq of France who won silver
in 2:08.41. Russia's Gregory Falko picked up gold in 2:08.10.
University of Bath's Matt Clay swam two finals this afternoon
to finish the seventh in the 50m Butterfly in 24.05 and eighth
in the 100m Backstroke in 53.26.
James Gibson (Loughborough University) and Chris Cooke (City
of Newcastle) finished fifth and sixth in a fast-paced 50m
Breaststroke final as Oleg Lisogor of the Ukraine set a new
world standard of 26.17 seconds.
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