RELAY TEAM IMPRESS ON ROAD TO 2012 GAMES
Britain showcased the emerging talent of its sprint relay
team at the European Championships in Eindhoven tonight and
they impressed with a best time as they continue their development
towards the London 2012 Olympics.
The 4x100m Freestyle quartet of Chris Fox (Wolverhampton),
Adam Brown (Swansea), Ryan Bennett (Bolton Metro) and Grant
Turner (Loughborough University) finished seventh in 3:20.96.
It was a big step up for a team that secured the silver at
last year's European Junior Championships and one that left
a positive impression on coach Chris Nesbit.
"The aim here was to go faster than they did last summer
and they did that by a one-and-a-half second drop from July,"
said Nesbit.
"It was a great achievement for the guys when you take
into account they're not rested and Fox only returned to the
UK from the Offshore Centre in Australia on Saturday."
The teenagers swam strongly in the morning with Brown and
Turner both swimming 49second legs to place eighth into tonight's
final in 3:21.67.
"It's a team that is developing all of the time and
the pleasing thing is that there are more male sprinters coming
through the British Swimming system," explained Nesbit.
"This trip is all about experience and they'll take
that to the British Championships later this month where Olympic
places are there for the taking.
"The main aim for this quartet is the 2012 Olympics
and what we're seeing is very encouraging."
Liam Tancock (Loughborough University) went 55.11 to narrowly
miss out on a spot in the final of the Men's 100m Backstroke.
Qualifying third fastest from the morning heats in 54.98,
Tancock took lane five in the second semi-final and after
a promising start fell off the pace over the second 50m to
finish joint fifth.
"I'm not ready to race yet, my target at this stage
of the year is the British Championships in a couple of weeks
where I'll be looking to add other events to my Olympic qualification.
"There's no doubt I would have liked to have gone quicker.
I was pleased with my morning performance but I felt it tonight
and couldn't get into what was a very good field.
"With some rest I'm confident I can go a lot faster
but I'm not sharp at this stage given the work I've been doing
over the past few weeks. I'm certainly looking forward to
being race ready at the trials later this month."
Britain's divers were also in action in Eindhoven with the
Women's 3m Synchro pairing of Tandi Gerrard (City of Leeds)
and Hayley Sage (City of Sheffield) finishing fifth in tonight's
final.
"It was a bit of a disappointment for us," said
Gerrard. "We wanted to try to leap frog some of the European
teams who finished ahead of us in Beijing last month. We didn't
manage to do that but we're keeping pace with them as we showed
again tonight.
"It just didn't feel settled today, qualifying Britain
for the Olympics last month left us a little flat but we need
to pick ourselves up now as we look to the trials.
"We started well this morning and had hoped for better
things tonight but it just didn't come together. We'll be
working hard on that as we look towards the Olympics in Beijing."
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