MARSHALL WINS TEAM ENGLAND'S FIRST MEDAL OF MELBOURNE 2006
Team England's Mel Marshall (Loughborough University) collected
her country's first medal in the pool as she swam to bronze
in the 200m freestyle final.
Marshall kept on the shoulder of Commonwealth record holder
Libby Lenton throughout to finish third in 1:58.11. Scotland's
Cailtlin McClatchey set a British record for the gold in 1:57.25.
"I'm slightly disappointed with that," admitted
Marshall. "It was the fastest I've been for some time,
but obviously coming third isn't where I wanted to be.
"It was against two very fast girls and to see Caitlin
win gold was just awesome. Maybe I overdid it over the first
50m and I tired up a little towards the end."
In the men's 4x100m freestyle, the men's team of Simon Burnett
(Wycombe District), Ross Davenport (University of Bath), Chris
Cozens (Loughborough University) and Anthony Howard (Horwich)
were just outside medal pace to finish fourth, despite setting
a new British Record of 3:19.56.
Liam Tancock (Loughborough University) was four hundredths
of a second off the World Record as he set a new Commonwealth
and British record in the 50m
backstroke semi-final. The World Championship bronze medallist
is the first Brit ever to dip below the 25-second mark and
qualifies fastest for tomorrow's final.
"That was a really good swim and everything went well,"
said a delighted Tancock. "We'll have to see what happens
tomorrow, but I'm definitely up for it."
England team mate Matt Clay (Swansea) swam a lifetime best
to win his heat and qualify for the finals in 25.49.
Kate Haywood's semi-final performance saw her qualify fourth
fastest for the finals of the 50m Breaststroke in 31.63, behind
Australians Jade Edmistone, Leisel Jones and Tarnee White.
In the 50m butterfly semis, Team England duo Ros Brett (Loughborough
University) and Terri Dunning (City of Birmingham) were just
outside qualification for the finals. Brett finished an agonising
ninth overall in 27.27 seconds and Dunning was just behind,
setting a new lifetime best of 27.40.
Dunning was also in action in the 200m individual medley final
and finished just outside the medals in fourth place in 2:15.79,
while Matt Bowe (Loughborough University) finished sixth in
the 200m butterfly final in 2:00.62.
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