Jazz Carlin won her second title of the week and University of Bath student Miles Munro announced himself as a potential future Olympian on day three of the British Swimming Championships in Glasgow.
Another rising star, Anna Hopkin, won 50m freestyle silver to take the tally of medals for University of Bath-based swimmers to seven with three days of competition still to go.
Carlin, who struck 200m freestyle gold on the opening day, led throughout the 16 lengths of the Tollcross International Swimming Centre Pool on Thursday as she won 800m freestyle gold in 8:27.49.
That was outside the time needed to guarantee qualification for Rio 2016 and Carlin – coached by Dave McNulty and Graeme Antwhistle at the British Swimming National Centre Bath – admitted the pressure of chasing her Olympic debut had affected her performance.
“It’s something I’m trying to work on, trying to stay relaxed, but obviously it does get to everyone,” said Carlin, who will be looking to complete a golden hat-trick in the 400m freestyle on Saturday.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks and I put a lot of pressure on myself to not miss out on the Olympics.
“I would like to have gone a bit faster and be close to my best time but you know what, I came in and did the best that I could and that’s all I can ask of myself. I have a day off now so I can relax, chill out and come back fighting on Saturday.”
While Carlin specialises in long-distance freestyle, student Hopkin excels in the ‘splash and dash’ 50m event and continued her impressive season by taking silver behind 11-times British champion Fran Halsall in 25.39.
Engineering student Munro – who, like Hopkin, is part of University Head Swimming Coach Mark Skimming’s training group – produced a strong performance to win the Target Tokyo men’s 100m freestyle final for swimmers with the potential to compete at the 2020 Games.
Sports Performance graduate Calum Jarvis was fifth in the main 100m freestyle final in 49.56.
Double Olympian Jemma Lowe finished just outside the medals in a mighty-close women’s 200m butterfly, her time of 2:09.73 being less than a second behind winner Aimee Wilmott.
Natural Sciences student Shauntelle Austin, supported by a Bill Whiteley Sports Scholarship, was sixth in the Target Tokyo final for the same event in 2:14.29.
Matthew Johnson, a Sports Performance student, raced in his second final of the week and finished sixth in 4:23.12.
The action continues on Friday, where Chemical Engineering graduate Andrew Willis and fellow London 2012 Olympian Siobhan-Marie O’Connor will be looking to secure their places in the team for Rio.
Team GB will officially announce the swimming squad for this summer’s Olympic Games at the University of Bath Sports Training Village next Thursday (April 21).
Report courtesy of Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.
