MORE SWIMMERS MEET NOMINATION CRITERIA
The fifth day of the British Swimming Championships saw more
British Swimmers meet the criteria to be nominated to Team
GB for this year's Olympic Games.
In order to make the Olympic team, athletes must finish in
first or second place in the final of their event and have
met the FINA 'A' time for that event in the heat.
City of Edinburgh swimmer Kris Gilchrist showed his strength
in the Breaststroke events after claiming victory in the 200m
Breaststroke final this morning.
Gilchrist touched first at the 50m mark and entered 100m
looking strong. James Kirton (City of Sheffield) received
rapturous applause from his home crowd as he began closing
the gap on the World Championship swimmer through the second
50m.
As Gilchrist entered the penultimate lap he used his power
to retain his lead and pulled even further ahead in the final
50m. Gilchrist touched in 2:10.44 to take the national title
and the gold medal.
"I felt pretty disappointed with the time but delighted
to have qualified," he said. "I felt really controlled
last night but it wasn't as smooth this morning. But I am
sure it'll be better in time for August. My main aim here
was to make it to Beijing, the event is moving on all the
time and I will have to move with that."
Kirton fought off the challenge of Craig Elliot (Loughborough
University) to take the silver medal in 2:13.47. Elliot took
the third place with 2:15.23.
After smashing the Commonwealth record in the heats of the
men's 400m Individual Medley all eyes were on Thomas Haffield
(City of Cardiff) as he entered the final.
He took to the blocks with the confidence of someone that
had qualified as the fastest athlete for the final, but found
that he was pushed all the way by the other swimmers that
had also met the FINA 'A' qualifying time.
Haffield began pulling away at the 200m mark where he gave
himself a two second lead over the Loughborough University
swimmers Euan Dale and Joe Roebuck and he managed to retain
his lead throughout the final laps to take the gold medal
in 4:14.01.
"It is hard to go back to back 400m IM," Haffield
said. "I felt really tired out there today. I think that
showed with the time, my legs just lacked energy they didn't
give me the drive that I wanted. But the job is done at the
trials and I am now looking forward to the World Championships
next week."
The race for second place saw Roebuck and Dale swimming length
for length until the final 50m where Dale pulled away from
his club-mate and showed his Freestyle power as he claimed
the silver medal and the second nomination for the British
Olympic team with a time of 4:16.33.
After a strong start to the race Roebuck had to settle for
the bronze medal with a time of 4:18.05.
One of the closest battles of the day was seen in the men's
100m Butterfly with three swimmers meeting the vital qualifying
time and the British record being smashed in the heats, everyone
was expecting the final to make for interesting viewing.
Todd Cooper (Stirling Swimming) touched first after 50m and
went into the final 50m hungry to meet the nomination criteria.
Michael Rock (Stockport Metro), who is the new British record
holder, began pushing to close the gap on Cooper in the final
25m.
Rock's power was too much for Cooper and he touched first
to claim the gold medal in 52.30.
"That was a really competitive event," Rock said.
"But I am delighted I managed to stick to my plan and
bring home my own race. I arrived here nine minutes earlier
than usual this morning to make sure I was totally awake.
I didn't want to lose my chance of making the Olympic team
after breaking the record last night."
Cooper fought hard for the second spot and Matt Bowe (Swansea
Performance) found the distance too much to make up and Cooper
touched in 52.33 to take the silver medal. The bronze medal
was taken by Bowe in 52.82.
The women's 100m Butterfly saw four women meet the qualifying
time in the heat and all four went into the final fighting
it out for the top two spots.
The new British record holder Jemma Lowe (Borough of Stockton)
went out the hardest over the first 50m and turned first ahead
of City of Liverpool swimmer Fran Halsall.
But it was Halsall that was hungrier for victory over the
final 50m and claimed her gold medal in a time of 58.16.
After dominating her events, Lowe had to settle for silver
in a time of 58.16, while bronze was taken by Ellen Gandy
(Beckenham) in a time of 58.49.
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