European Swimming Championships 2010: Britain inspired by Fran Halsall
It took Fran Halsall 25 seconds to become the most successful British swimmer at the European Championships 2010 in Budapest, Hungary. After an alternating final session, Britain concluded the event with the best ever medal record here at Margaret Island.
The 50 metres freestyle event was won by the Southport swimmer in the opening race with a bronze medal. It added to the tally of 5 medals already won by the British swimmers on the last day, taking the total medals won to 18. Yet, the number of medals won by the British was less than the number of medals won by their athletic counterparts two weeks ago in Barcelona.
One of the Britain’s victories at Budapest was the return of form for Rebecca Adlington when she managed to grab a gold medal in the 400 metre race on Sunday. The Olympic Champion was seen in tears after the 800 metre race last week when she gave a disappointing performance even though it was her favoured race.
Fran Halsall, Gemma Spofforth, Kate Haywood and Amy Smith won the gold medal in the 4 by100 metre medley relay. The Russians on the other hand were disqualified on the charges of starting 0.13 seconds before time on their second leg and the four Russian swimmers were seen in tears.
Fran Halsall was very happy with her team’s performance. She revealed that last year’s team which participated in the European Championships did not have any swimmer who could win the gold in an individual 100 metre. Halsall swam in the butterfly event as well and claimed that the team’s strength was their depth.
Fran Halsall is waiting for her delayed A level result in Theology at the moment. She was still disappointed at the bronze medal that she won, but was however glad that she managed to win 5 medals for her team including the gold in the 100 metre freestyle event. She swam past Paul Palmer, Susan Rolf and Anita Lonsbrough - the winners of all three medals in the last campaign.
21-year-old Adlington managed to win the first major gold medal after her race in Beijing in 2008 after she swam a controlled 400 metre race. She soon became a matter of concern in Halsall’s success. The time she took to complete the race was 4 minutes and 4.55 seconds, which was 1.33 seconds slower than the world record time set at the Olympics. This record was unsuccessfully met by the athlete due to her ill health, when Federica Pellegrini swam in Rome. She wore a shiny suit which has been banned for future use but Pellegrini managed to finish the race under the 4 minute mark.
Adlington finished at the 7th spot in the 800 metre race. Her coach Bill Furniss, who is an influential person, encouraged the swimmer who said that she had no stress on her and that she enjoyed the game. Adlington did not play hard in the last 15 metres and was just seen to put her head down and swim.
The British team’s medal haul include a double one-two for Lizzie Simmonds and Spofforth and just three medals in the men’s races. Adlington said that the team did not show their team spirit before this and acted as individual units. Now they have joined together and are working hard for the team’s and the country’s success at the Championships.
The European Championships and the unmatched Hungarian support at the event is seen as an important exercise for the Aquatics Centre due in 2010 for the British team. The main attention for Britain’s enthusiastic team will be on the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India this October.
Ellen Gandy, the 19-year-old athlete longed for a medal all week long and was finally awarded a bronze in the 200 metre butterfly by clocking a time of 2 minutes and 6.51 seconds, finishing behind Katina Hosszu.
Kate Haywood, the swimmer who was disqualified from the 100 metre race, managed to finish behind Russia’s Yuliya Efimova in the 50 metre race and was awarded a silver medal.
The head coach of the British swimming team, Dennis Pursley, said that the team exceeded his expectations, although he has his doubts but he is proud of the way his team performed and emerged victorious at the Championships.
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