LOUGHRAN AND SIMMONDS SHINE FOR BRITS ON DAY TWO
Marco Loughran and Lizzie Simmonds both took gold for Britain
in spectacular fashion as the squad sent out a strong message
to their rivals at the European Junior Championships in Antwerp
today.
Marco Loughran claimed Britain's first gold medal at the
Championships on the second day of competition with a fantastic
medal winning performance.
On route from the heats to the final, Loughran put his mark
on the gold medal, making it through each round ranked as
the fastest qualifier, and put in a fantastic performance
in the final to finish in 55.63 breaking his own Welsh record.
Beating Italian swimmer Damiano Lestingi by 0.01 seconds,
Loughran touched home first to claim Britain's first gold
medal of the meet, with Felix Wolf of Germany taking the bronze
in 56.64.
"I am over the moon to take the gold. It was a close
finish but a win is a win," said Loughran.
"Chris Nesbit (coach) has always been there to support
me so this is a great reward for the both of us. It has given
me a lot of confidence for the rest of the meet. I have the
50m and 100m Backstroke and the 4x100m Medley Relay so fingers
crossed."
Chris Walker-Hebborn also featured in the final, finishing
in 5th place in a time of 57.25 and setting a new personal
best time.
Defending her 200m Backstroke title, Elizabeth Simmonds went
into the final with high hopes after moving through each stage
of the event as the fastest qualifier.
Ranked eighth in the world, Simmonds put in a commanding
performance to take the gold medal.
Pulling away from the field continuously, Simmonds had a
two second lead of over her nearest rival, and as she turned
into the final 50m she kept this lead until the end, finishing
in 2:12.36.
Silver went to Russia's Oxana Shlapakova in 2:14.69 with
Zuzanna Mazurek taking bronze in 2:16.36.
"I was happy with that swim as I am not really rested
for this meet. The first 100m was the fastest I have ever
gone out in the 200m Backstroke so it is a good indication
of what I could do if properly rested," said Simmonds.
"There is a certain amount of pressure going into the
event as defending champion but when you want to succeed and
give yourself the best possible chance, it is something you
deal with and I'm really happy to take the gold medal home."
The women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay team took a well-earned
draw in a close final that saw Germany take the gold in 3:47.85.
After qualifying from the morning heats in the morning in
3:52.56 with Rebecca Turner, Jenna Turner, Sasha Matthews
and Lizzie Simmonds cementing the team's place in the evening
final ranked second, the team was looking for a podium place.
An altered line-up of Rebecca Turner, Ellen Gandy, Jenna
Turner and Lauren Collins for the final took to the water,
and each swam fantastic legs to lead Britain to another relay
silver medal in 3.48:99.
"We're all ecstatic," said Collins. "We worked
as a team and it paid off."
"This really put the cherry on top of the cake for us,
we're really happy to win the silver medal," said Rebecca
Turner.
The bronze medal went to Russia in a time of 3:49.59.
Collins also competed in the women's 100m Freestyle final,
finishing eighth in a time of 57.81, with Rebecca Turner finishing
in 13th with a time of 58.39.
Sasha Matthews claimed a bronze medal for Britain in the
women's 400m Freestyle with a superb performance.
After putting in a great performance in the morning heats,
breaking her personal best time by over two seconds, Sasha
Matthews progressed to the evening final alongside Ellen Gandy
who qualified from the heats in 4:18.42.
Turning in to the final 100m in fourth, Matthews continued
to fight, taking the bronze after a final push in the last
25m in 4:16.45 and setting a new personal best time for the
second time today.
"I am so happy right now. I went into the final ranked
third fastest and thinking I could win a medal and I did.
I have the 200m Freestyle and 4x200m Freestyle to go and this
results gives me a lot of confidence."
Gold went to Elena Sokolova of Russia in 4:12.53 with silver
being taken by Marguax Fabre of France in 4:15.11.
Ellen Gandy finished one place behind her team-mate in fourth,
touching in 4:16.68
Also competing in the women's 400m Freestyle was Robyn Matthews
who put in steady performance to finish 15th in a time of
4:27.15 in the heats this morning.
All four of Britain's silver medal winning 4x100m Freestyle
Relay team were in action once again today when they competed
in the men's 100m Freestyle event.
Adam Brown booked his place in the final after a strong performance
in his heat (51.18) and semi-final where he finished in 50.95,
setting a new personal best time
Grant Turner qualified for the evening's semi-final from
the morning heats when he finished in a time of 51.27. His
time of 51.07 saw him finish ninth in the event and also setting
a new personal best time.
Despite posting a time good enough to be ranked 10th after
the heat swims, Chris Fox missed out on a place in the evening
semi-final with only two swimmers per nation able progress
to the next stage.
His time of 51.29, also a new personal best, was 0.02 seconds
behind that of teammate Grant Turner who took Britain's second
spot in the semi-finals.
Ryan Bennett finished in equal 33rd position but put in a
solid performance touch in 52.44.
Peter Thompson put in a good performance in the men's 200m
Butterfly heats, touching in 2:03.41 and claimed his place
tomorrow's final when he qualified from his semi-final in
a time of 2:02.54.
Emma Smithurst finished fourth in the final of the women's
200m Butterfly. After a strong swim in the morning heats (2:16.70),
Smithurst went into final, going over three seconds quicker
to finish in 2:13.44.
"I am really happy with that swim. I've still got the
200m I.M and 100m Butterfly to go so I hope to swim fast and
make the final in both events," Smithurst commented.
Xavier Mohammed booked his place in the final of the 200m
Individual Medley after a good semi-final swim.
In the morning heats the Bexley swimmer posted a time of
2:06.49 and his semi-final time of 2:06.17 was enough to see
him through. He goes into tomorrow's final ranked eighth.
Robert Holderness took part in the final of the 200m Breaststroke
in his first international meet, finishing in 2:18.47 to take
eighth place and setting a new personal best time.
"I really enjoyed taking part in the final," said
Holderness. "It was my first in a major international
meet and now I'm hoping to do well in the 200m Breaststroke."
|
