MEN'S 400M FREESTYLE
Graeme Smith used his wealth of experience to win the 400m freestyle. For three quarters of the race Adam Faulkner the defending champion pushed the pace along with Smith close in attention. Going into the final 100m Smith upped the pace and was off and there was no way anyone was going to stop him winning. Faulkner made a brace effort but the 1996 Olympic 1500m bronze medallist was not going to be denied. Smith's winning time a personal best of 3min 45;27sec with Faulkner half a second in arrears. Third place went to the eighteen year old David Davies in a personal best of 3min 48;14sec.
Smith admitted afterwards that he wasn't " feeling great after the worlds" and "didn't know what to expect" but in the end was " chuffed" with his time.
MEN'S 200M BACKSTROKE
Gregor Tait ninth in the 200m backstroke at the World Championships used the experience gained in Barcelona to win the 200m backstroke and shatter the British record. The twenty-four year old dominated the race from the start leaving the British record holder Stephen Parry and James Goddard the Commonwealth champion, in his wake. Tait's time of 1min 52;52sec lowered the mark Parry set last December by one and a half seconds. Parry who won all three backstroke distance at last year's championships finished runner up in 1min 54;99sec just 0;88 slower than his best, Goddard who was sent home early from Barcelona with tonsillitis, narrowly missed out on the runners-up spot in 1min 655;17sec.
WOMEN'S 200M MEDLEY
Canadian Jennifer Fratesi showed her British rivals how to swim the 200m medley coming home over three seconds ahead of them in 2min 11;96sec. The battle was for the minor placings and it came down to the final touch when Claire Windeatt snatched the runners-up spot in 2min 15;09sec with Recbecca Cooke the World 800m bronze medallist moving through the field to take third spot in 2min 15;66sec.
WOMEN'S 200M BUTTERFLY
Georgina Lee was another run away winner celebrating her twenty-second birthday with victory in the 200m butterfly in 2min 10;82sec. Joanne Jackson the younger sister of the British 200m freestyle record holder, Nicola Jackson, swimming in lane4 eight produced a personal best of 2min 13;27sec to take second place with Louise Gowens third 0;94 behind.
MEN'S 200M MEDLEY
The leader in the men's 200m medley changed with every stroke. As expected James Hickman led at the end of the butterfly. Gregor Tait then used his strong backstroke to take over but on the breaststroke Robin Francis, Ian Edmond and Adrian Turner closed down to make it a blanket turn for the five going into the freestyle leg. Determination and fitness told in the end with Francis touching home in 1min 58;31sec 0;15 ahead of Edmond with Turner a further 100th behind. Tiat missed out on a medal when coming home just 0;01 behind Turner. Hickman the British record holder, was swum out of it finishing in 1min 59;03.
MEN'S 50M FREESTYLE
There was only one man in the race that of course was Mark Foster the world silver medallist. The thirty-three year old was in serious mode chasing something special. His time of 21;41sec just 0; 0;28sec . Chris Cozens came home 0;67sec behind in second place with Matthew Kidd third in 22;14sec.
WOMEN'S 50M BREASTSTROKE
Rachel Genner made a successful return after illness to win the 50m breaststroke in 31;44sec. which placed her nearly half a second ahead of Irish international Emma Robinson. Fifteen year old Rosie Morahan snatched bronze from the hands of the European junior champion, Grace Callaghan, by 100th iwith a time of 32;00sec.
World 50m breaststroke champion, James Gibbson, lowered the Commonwealth record in his semi-final of the 100m breaststroke with a time of 58;27sec.
BRITISH SC CHAMPIONSHIPS Stockport, Aug 14-27 (25 m) MEN 50 METRES FREESTYLE 1 21.41 Foster Mark,70,GBR 2 22.08 Cozens Chris,82,GBR 3 22.14 Kidd Matthew,79,GBR 4 22.23 Flouch Casey,82,AUS 5 22.37 Scotcher Alex,80,GBR 6 22.42 Morgan Owen,84,GBR 7 22.44 Piper Sean,82,AUS 8 22.76 Bowe Matthew,83,GBR 400 METRES FREESTYLE 1 3:45.27 Smith Graeme,76,GBR 2 3:45.77 Faulkner Adam,81,GBR 3 3:48.14 Davies David,85,GBR 4 3:48.47 Meadows Gavin,77,GBR 5 3:51.15 Hunter Andrew,86,GBR 6 3:52.01 Davenport Ross,84,GBR 7 3:53.86 Willdridge Tom,84,GBR 8 3:54.67 Lahana Quentin,82,FRA 200 METRES BACKSTROKE 1 1:52.52 Tait Gregor,80,GBR 2 1:54.99 Parry Stephen,77,GBR 3 1:55.17 Goddard James,83,GBR 4 1:58.34 Oxford Nathan,83,GBR 5 2:00.78 Powell Ian,85,GBR 6 2:01.42 Lang Robert,84,GBR 7 2:01.54 Tancock Liam,85,GBR 8 2:03.71 Roberts Joel,85,GBR 200 METRES IND.MEDLEY 1 1:58.31 Francis Robin,82,GBR 2 1:58.46 Edmond Ian,78,GBR 3 1:58.47 Turner Adrian,76,GBR 4 1:58.48 Tait Gregor,80,GBR 5 1:59.03 Hickman James,76,GBR 6 2:00.71 Brodie Leith,86,AUS 7 2:02.93 Dale Euan,85,GBR 8 2:04.02 van den Broek Neil,79,GBR WOMEN 50 METRES BREASTSTROKE 1 31.44 Genner Rachel,82,GBR 2 31.92 Robinson Emma,78,IRL 3 32.00 Morahan Rosie,88,GBR 4 32.01 Callaghan Grace,88,GBR 5 32.19 Balfour Kirsty,84,GBR 6 32.46 Holderness Georgia,87,GBR 7 32.88 Tomlinson Louise,81,AUS 8 32.93 Maxwell Charlotte,84,GBR 200 METRES BUTTERFLY 1 2:10.82 Lee Georgina,81,GBR 2 2:13.27 Jackson Joanne,86,GBR 3 2:14.21 Gowens Louise,82,GBR 4 2:14.27 Patten Cassandra,87,GBR 5 2:14.33 Dunning Terri,85,GBR 6 2:14.62 Healey Sarah,82,GBR 7 2:14.64 Brown Nathalie,83,GBR 8 2:15.14 Johnson Stephanie,88,GBR 200 METRES IND.MEDLEY 1 2:11.96 Fratesi Jennifer,84,CAN 2 2:15.09 Windeatt Claire,85,GBR 3 2:15.66 Cooke Rebecca,83,GBR 4 2:15.75 Howells Gemma,84,GBR 5 2:15.78 Charlesworth Nicola,82,GBR 6 2:16.59 Reimer Brittany,88,CAN 7 2:16.76 Shaw Rebecca,85,GBR 8 2:17.05 Savage Alexandra,85,GBR
