Rebecca Adlington (Nova Centurion) shaved two seconds off her own British and Commonwealth record in the women’s 400m Freestyle on the final day of the asa Championships (50m).
Derwentside’s Joanne Jackson finished her heat in 4:04.81 and it looked clear early on that the athletes were going to come close to the Commonwealth record of 4:04.50. British Champion Adlington positioned herself behind Jackson for the first 150m and looked comfortable with the high pace.
Both athletes were turning well within the British and Commonwealth record, which Adlington set at the British Championships in April, at each junction and Adlington made her move for the lead at the half way mark.
Adlington stretched out her lead in the final 50m and touched in a time of 4:02.80 to become the third fastest woman this year and fourth fastest woman in history over the distance.
“That was unbelievable,” Adlington said. “I don’t understand how I’ve just done that time. I’ve been training really hard throughout this meet, doing 7km a session and then trying to race hard through it.
“I felt awful this morning. I’ve been sluggish and heavy through the water and I didn’t think I could go that fast. I expected a 4:08 and would have been happy with that.”
The silver medal went to Jackson in a time of 4:05.49 with Swansea Performance’s Jazmin Carlin winning bronze in 4:16.79. Camelia Potec of Canet 66 won a commemorative medal in 4:08.72.
The men’s 200m Backstroke saw Gregor Tait (City of Edinburgh) fight off the challenge from Marco Loughran (Welsh Independent) to claim his third backstroke title of the Championships.
The first 50m saw Loughran push hard to move ahead of Tait. But after an excellent turn the Commonwealth Champion moved into the lead and looked steady until the final turn when Loughran seemed to close the gap.
The final 25m saw Tait show his strength as he won his third gold medal in 1:59.30.
“It’s been a hard week, with a busy schedule, but it’s about getting the races in at this point of our Olympic preparation,” Tait said. “The process of tough morning races is what we’ve focused on and that swim, one of my fastest morning hit outs, shows it’s paying off.”
The silver medal was won by Loughran in 2:00.24 and Scott Hathaway (Loughborough University) took the bronze medal in 2:02.28.
Simon Burnett (Windsor) put in a seasons best performance with his excellent swim in the men’s 100m Freestyle final.
Beijing-bound Burnett took the race out in the final 50m but found himself pushed all the way by fellow British Olympian Adam Brown.
The British record holder, Burnett, touched in a time of 49.34 for the gold medal.
“That feels like a big relief,” Burnett said. “It has been a long time since I have swam that well so I am pleased. It was a good field with Fabien and Adam in there pulling me along the first 50m. I timed it well though and brought it home well.”
Silver went to Adam Brown (Hatfield) in 49.68 and Fabien Gilot (France) took a commemorative medal in 49.54 and Ross Davenport (Loughborough University) took bronze in 50.05.
Loughborough University swimmer Daniel Fogg dominated the men’s 1,500m Freestyle final as he claimed a 12 second victory over rival Richard Charlesworth.
Fogg had a score to settle after missing out on the Olympic place at the British Championships in April.
The new national champion carved out an early lead over Charlesworth but extended it to an impressive nine seconds at the 1,000m mark and looked comfortable as he touched in a time of 15:31.61 to win his first national title of the competition.
Charlesworth (Hatfield) couldn’t make up the gap and touched in 15:43.62 to take the silver and bronze went to Nova Centurion’s Daniel Mills in 16:01.46.
Jemma Lowe (Borough of Stockton) swam just outside of her British record in the women’s 200m Butterfly final.
As they turned for the final 50m Lowe was on half a second off her record and she looked strong as she swam into the final 25m. She touched in a time of 2:07.57 to win the gold medal after just missing her record.
The silver medal was won by Lowe’s club-mate Jessica Dickons in 2:08.74, while the bronze went to Derwentside’s Stephanie Johnson in 2:13. 76.
-ENDS-
the asa Championships runs from 10th-13th July at the Liverpool Aquatic Centre.
For further details contact British Swimming Media Officer Gemma Field on 01509 632262, 07917 726431 or email gemma.field@swimming.org
British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain. It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association). British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
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