OLYMPIC SWIM TEAM TAKES FORM
The final day of the British Swimming Championships saw the
final athletes meet the nomination criteria to add their names
to the list of swimmers that have the chance to go to this
summer'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.
With David Davies already pre-selected for the event, the
final of the men's 1,500m saw two athletes fighting for the
final Olympic nomination spot.
Hatfield's Richard Charlesworth and Daniel Fogg (Loughborough
University) met the FINA 'A' time in the heat and took to
the final with the desire of attending their first Olympic
Games.
Fogg and Charlesworth were pretty well matched throughout
the final, it was only at the 1,300m mark that Charlesworth
began carving out a lead for himself and going into the final
100m he held a two second lead over Fogg.
Charlesworth touched in a time of 15:10.99 to take the gold
medal and the one nomination in the 1,500m to the British
Olympic team.
Fogg took the silver medal with a time of 15:12.85 and bronze
went to Wear Valley's Chris Alderton in 15:29.08.
Garioch's Hannah Miley went into the final of the women's
400m Individual Medley looking to post another fast time after
breaking the European record in the last night's heats.
Miley and Keri-Anne Payne (Stockport Metro) were the only
two athletes to have met the qualifying time in the heats
and found themselves fighting it out for the gold medal.
The new European record holder touched in third place after
the first 50m and started looking slightly fatigued after
gaining her new personal best time in the heat. But as the
swimmers entered the 200m mark Miley began pulling back and
as they moved into the final 100m Miley began pushing into
the lead.
Miley touched ahead of Payne to claim the gold with a time
of 4:37.41, the Stockport Metro swimmer took the silver with
a time of 4:38.30.
The bronze medal went to Derventio's Emma Smithurst after
she finished in a time of 4:47.28.
Rebecca Adlington (Nova Centurion) added to her impressive
record at the British Swimming Championships (50m) by winning
gold in the women's 200m Freestyle.
Caitlin McClatchey touched first over 50m but it was Adlington's
form that took over in the final 50m as she touched home first
to take the gold medal in 1:57.94.
The Loughborough University swimmer took the silver medal
in a time of 1:58.22 and the bronze medal was taken by Derwentside's
Joanne Jackson with a time if 1:58.77.
The heats of the men's 200m Butterfly saw one athlete meet
the FINA 'A' qualifying time and go into the final looking
to take victory away from his competitors.
Michael Rock (Stockport Metro), who had also guaranteed his
nomination to the Olympic team in the 100m Butterfly, swam
an excellent final. He touched after 50m in a time of 27.35
and retained his lead throughout.
He touched for the gold medal in a time of 1:56.92. The silver
medal was taken by Joe Roebuck (Loughborough University) in
1:58.91 and Stirling Swimming's Todd Cooper took the bronze
in 1:58.96.
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