Olympic medallist Keri-Anne Payne claims LEN ‘Athlete of the Year’ award – Swimming news
The best performer in open water and long distance freestyle swimming, Keri-Anne Payne of Great Britain is pleased to receive the Women’s Open Water ‘Athlete of the Year’ award by the National Governing Body, LEN, on Friday, October 28.
The Briton was elated after hearing about the announcement about the Women’s Open Water ‘Athlete of the Year’ award, as her stunning efforts throughout the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai paid off.
The 23-year-old athlete is recognised as one of the most popular open water swimming icons in Great Britain. At the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, Keri-Anne Payne dominated proceedings in the Women’s 10km Open Water swimming race at Jinshan City Beach
by posting a record breaking time of two hours, one minute and 58.1 seconds to claim the gold medal for her nation.
While speaking about her remarkable effort in 10km open water swimming race, Payne stated, “To be on that Olympic team at a home Olympics is going to be absolutely amazing. It's a weight off my shoulders. I can concentrate on training now for next year and
I don't have to worry about qualifying because I've already done it.”
In addition, Keri was the gold medallist in the respective race at the 2009 World Championships edition, in Rome. Moreover, she won gold title in 400m freestyle at the 2004 European Championships, in Vienna. Furthermore, Payne had been the silver medallist
in Marathon 10km at the 2008 Olympic Games, in Beijing. Besides, she was the bronze medallist in 400m Individual Medley (IM) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, in Delhi.
At the 2011 British Gas Swimming Championships held in March, Keri Anne Payne produced a record breaking splash in the pool to clinch the Women’s 1500m freestyle along with many other individual performances to claim bronze titles in 200m, 400m and 800m
freestyle events, respectively.
Currently, Payne is preparing hard to win her first Olympic gold title at the 2012 Olympic Games, in London. The award will surely boost her confidence to perform well in her upcoming meets.
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