Molly Renshaw takes home bronze on final day of racing in Abu Dhabi

Molly Renshaw has won bronze while competing on the final day of competition at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi.

The Loughborough National Centre athlete continued her stellar form to secure a spot on the podium in the Women’s 200m Breaststroke.

It comes just one day after she lowered the British record for the 100m Breaststroke for the second consecutive time in the final of that event to finish in fifth place overall.

Renshaw’s time of 2:17.96 was less than a second away from the British record for this event which is held by Jocelyn Ulyett and was set in 2019 (2:17.10).

On this occasion, that time brought her within 0.11 of a second of the gold medal in what was an extremely tightly-contested race.

“I’m really happy with that,” said the 25-year-old. “Obviously it was a really close race at the end, so it’s gutting to just miss out on gold or silver – but it’s been a really long year, and to get so close to my personal best time, I’m really happy.

“Next year is going to be really busy with a Worlds, Commonwealths and Europeans, so now I’m just going to take a bit of a break over Christmas, reset and go again in January.

Room for improvement

“I think exploring the 100m a bit more is definitely going to be part of my programme into next year, and I’m quite excited about that, because that’s where I think I’ve got quite a bit of room for improvement. 

“My 200m, I’m really happy with that, and if I can keep chipping away at it then great, because there’s a lot of room for improvement on the 100m.”

A strong start from Renshaw saw her taking the event out hard and splitting 1:05.82 at the 100 metres mark – a time that is only 1.5 seconds away from her new lifetime best of 1:04.37.

She led comfortably at the halfway mark, though strong competition from the eventual winner Emily Escobedo (USA) and Evgeniia Chikunova (RSF) saw Renshaw chased down in the final 25 metres.

Escobedo got her hands to the wall first in 2:18.85 while Chikunova was a fraction behind in 2:17.88.

Renshaw’s medal in Abu Dhabi adds to the gold medal won by Ben Proud in the Men’s 50m Freestyle earlier in the week.