Hannah Miley wins her first gold medal at 2011 British Gas Swimming Championships
Hannah Miley, the European and Commonwealth Games 400m individual medley gold medallist wins her first gold medal at the 2011 British Gas Swimming Championships in the 200m individual medley on Sunday. The 21-year-old booked her place in Britain’s swimming
team for the 2011 Shanghai World Championships in July.
Miley touched the wall in 2:12.01 ahead of Stockport Metro’s Sophie Allen, which is the best time so far this year. She expressed that her time does not promise her a medal at the World Championships.
After finishing her race, she was unaware that her time is the fastest of the 200m individual medley in 2011. However, she commented that this time would not remain the best for too long, as there are many other swimmers who will improve their timings.
“I was a bit disappointed because I was just 0.2 seconds off from doing a sub 2:12 time and that would have been great so I would have liked to have gone faster but it is job done,” Miley said.
The European gold medallist expressed her desire to win a gold medal at the World Championships. Miley said that she ended fourth in the World Championships last year, but that it would be great if she wins a medal this year, as she has a full year in front
of her to train.
“But this year is all about gaining more experience for my tool bag for the London 2012 Olympics so it is an interesting year but so far it is all going well,” she added.
Miley has planned to compete in the 22 swims at the championship including her favourite event, the 400m individual medley on Saturday. She is the reigning champion of the 400m individual medley and has responded with a laugh to questions concerning such
an exhaustive swimming schedule.
She articulated that she wanted to be different and no one has competed in such an amount of races so she decided to do it, as she is going to be assertive in anything that she does. Miley is happy to compete in one of the toughest events of swimming, the
400 m individual medley, as she considers it a great opportunity to compete in the event with the best British swimmers.
Fran Halsall, after her knee operation in December, put in an excellent performance and managed to finish second in the women’s 100m butterfly behind Ellen Gandy in a time of 58.99. Liam Tancock entered the men’s 100m backstroke final as the fastest swimmer
in a time of 55.19.
It will be interesting to see how Miley carries her winning momentum forward into the Shanghai Championships and competes with some of the world’s top swimmers.
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