Hibbott wins 400m Free silver at European Juniors

Holly Hibbott won her first medal of the 2016 European Junior Swimming Championships with 400m Freestyle silver on day two in Hungary.

Having qualified second fastest from the morning heats, the Stockport Metro swimmer was just 0.3 seconds behind Hungary’s Ajna Keseley in the final.

There was less than a second between the pair throughout a nail-biting race, with Keseley turning at 350m with 0.91 seconds in hand.

And while Hibbott closed the gap with a 29.84 final 50m, the English swimmer was narrowly denied top spot as she came home in 4:08.40.

Hibbott breaks Bochmann’s British Age Group record

The 16-year old’s time was more than 2.5 seconds faster than Anne Bochmann’s British Age Group record of 4:10.99, set at Ponds Forge in 2010.

Hibbott’s performance was also a huge PB, smashing her 4:11.29 effort to finish fifth in the final of last year’s World Junior Championships in Singapore.

The result was also a first junior international medal over 400m Free for the teenager, who finished fifth in this event at the 2014 European Juniors and fourth at last year’s European Games.

Loughborough University’s Abbie Wood was also in the girls’ 400m Freestyle final, finishing fifth.

The 17-year old, who won 400m IM bronze on the opening day in Hungary, sliced nearly two seconds off her PB to come home in 4:12.40.

  • Click here to view results from the 2016 European Junior Swimming Championships in Hungary.

Image credit: European Junior Championships 2016

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