British Swimming set up for strong European finish
British Swimming, powered by British Gas, set themselves up for a storming finish to the European Championships in Budapest and will look to close their account of the final day tomorrow with more medals.
It was the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay that went closest to adding to the team’s greatest European medal haul with a valiant effort but France squeezed through into the bronze medal at the death.
Each of the quartet – Robbie Renwick (City of Glasgow), Dave Carry (British Gas ITC Stockport), Ross Davenport and Robert Bale (both British Gas ITC Loughborough) – dropped close to two second off their times from heats to final to put them agonizingly close to the bronze.
Gold went to Russia in a new Championship Record of 7:06.71, Germany took the silver in 7:08.13, France the bronze in 7:09.70 with Britain fourth in 7:11.00.
“We tried to finish off the week with a medal,” said Renwick, “but it wasn’t to be. It’s been hard for the guys here without any rest and as the week has worn on we’ve got faster and faster due to the rest between events – it shows we’re capable and we’ll go to the Commonwealth Games with confidence.”
“We knew we had to put in a strong team effort tonight and we did – it’s just a shame it wasn’t enough there right at the end,” said Davenport. “We swam as well as we possibly could at this stage of our season but it’s a shame to just miss out.
Antony James (Plymouth Leander) finished strongly in the Men’s 100m Butterfly in Britain’s only other final of the night and placed eighth in a time of 52.67.
Britain will go into tomorrow with a lot to race for and medals up for grabs. Kate Haywood and Fran Halsall will be both in action again as they take on the Women’s 50m Breastroke and 50m Freestyle finals respectively.
For Haywood (British Gas ITC Loughborough), who finished her semi-final in 31.24, it’s the end of a long year where she had been dogged by injury.
"That was a personal best and I've not done one for so long," said Haywood “I've still got two more medals to shoot for so I'm trying not to get carried away.
"I had surgery a year ago and to come back with a best time, I'm really happy with that. It's been really hard so to come today and swim well is a relief."
Halsall (British Gas ITC Loughborough) finished her heat second fastest while team-mate Amy Smith (Loughborough University) finished eighth in the other semi.
"My swimming speed's a lot quicker than it has been," said Halsall. "I think I'm in the mix and I've got a bit left so hopefully it'll come good on Sunday. I've still got two more medals to shoot for so I'm trying not to get carried away."
Ellen Gandy (Beckenham) will swim in the Women’s 200m Butterfly final after impressing into tonight’s semis with a time of 2:08.01 but there was heartache for team-mate Jemma Lowe (Stockton ASC) who missed the final by 1/100th of a second.
"I struggled for the first couple of days after a flight from my home in Australia but I've acclimatised now and hopefully the final will go like my semi-final," said Gandy.
Simon Burnett will also be in contention tomorrow having produced an impressive swim to finish his 50m Freestyle semi-final in third place.
"I think the gold is out of the question, but training is going very well," he said. "I'm getting away from the 200m, which doesn't agree with me any more, and finally it's starting to pay off."
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