The opening night at the Glasgow 2018 European Championships at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre, saw MJ Church Ambassador Anna Hopkin, a recent Sport & Exercise Science graduate coached by Mark Skimming, and National Centre Bath swimmer Siobhan-Marie O’Connor narrowly miss out on a medal in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.
They swam the first two legs for a British quartet that also included Eleanor Faulkner and Freya Anderson, who wasn’t quite able to overhaul third-placed Denmark on a storming last leg. France narrowly took gold ahead of the Netherlands.
O’Connor, coached by David McNulty, also qualified for the women’s 100m breaststroke final on Sunday, where she finished fifth in 1:07.30. The heats for her main event, the 200m individual medley, begin on Tuesday.
The synchonised swimming competition saw Team Bath Synchro Club’s Ilaria Brandimarte, on her British debut, help GB finish ninth overall in the Team Free Routine final on Saturday.
Their tribal-themed routine earned a score of 78.9333, an improvement on their total in the previous day’s qualifying heats. Russia, Ukraine and Italy took the podium places.
However, University of Bath-based Calum Jarvis and James Guy helped GB strike gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay on a super Sunday night for British Swimming Sports Performance graduate Jarvis got the final off to a strong start as he finished the first leg in second place before handing over to Duncan Scott who, fresh from winning 100m freestyle silver earlier in the evening, forged into the lead.
Tom Dean maintained Britain’s advantage before Guy – who, like Jarvis, is a member of the British Swimming National Centre Bath – brought Britain home in first place in a championship record time of 7:05.32, more than a second clear of nearest challengers Russia. Italy took bronze.
Jarvis, coached by Jol Finck at the London 2012 Legacy Pool, told BBC Sport: “There’s always huge pressure going off first but I think I handled it well tonight and got the team off to a good start.”
Guy pulled out of the 200m butterfly final to focus on the relay and said: “Doing both races would have been suicide, there would have been no time to rest between them. It was a great swim by the team, onwards and upwards.”
Fellow National Centre Bath swimmer Cameron Kurle had earlier helped Britain qualify for the final with victory in their heat. He had also been part of the mixed 4x200m freestyle relay team in the heats on Saturday, earning Britain a place in the final where they won bronze.
The opening night of competition at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre saw MJ Church Ambassador Anna Hopkin, a recent Sport & Exercise Science graduate coached by Mark Skimming, and National Centre Bath swimmer Siobhan-Marie O’Connor narrowly miss out on a medal in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.
They swam the first two legs for a British quartet that also included Eleanor Faulkner and Freya Anderson, who wasn’t quite able to overhaul third-placed Denmark on a storming last leg. France narrowly took gold ahead of the Netherlands.
O’Connor, coached by David McNulty, also qualified for the women’s 100m breaststroke final on Sunday, where she finished fifth in 1:07.30. The heats for her main event, the 200m individual medley, began on Tuesday.
University of Bath-based swimmer James Guy was part of a record-breaking gold-medal success for the second time in 24 hours as he helped Britain to mixed 4x100m medley relay success at the Glasgow 2018 European Championships on Monday.
Fresh from qualifying second fastest for Tuesday’s individual 200m freestyle final in 1:46.44, British Swimming National Centre Bath ace Guy teamed up with Georgia Davies, Adam Peaty and Freya Anderson to take the relay victory in a new European record time of 3:40.18.
Guy, coached by Jol Finck in the London 2012 Legacy Pool at the University’s Sports Training Village, swam a sensational butterfly split of 50.96 to give Anderson a near five-second advantage going into the decisive freestyle leg.
That proved too much for the chasing pack to close down, with Anderson swimming superbly to hold off Russia and Italy who had to settle for silver and bronze respectively.
Guy, who won gold in the men’s 200m freestyle relay in a new continental-best time on Sunday, will be looking for a third medal in as many days when he goes in the individual 200m freestyle final at 5.32pm on Tuesday.
National Centre Bath team-mate Chloe Tutton, coached by David McNulty, will compete in the women’s 200m breaststroke final having finished runner-up in her semi-final on Monday in 2:26.62.
The synchonised swimming competition saw Team Bath Synchro Club’s Ilaria Brandimarte, on her British debut, help GB finish ninth overall in the Team Free Routine final on Saturday.
Their tribal-themed routine earned a score of 78.9333, an improvement on their total in the previous day’s qualifying heats. Russia, Ukraine and Italy took the podium places.
The European Rowing Championships, also taking place in Scotland, saw Biology graduate Sara Parfett – who started her rowing career on the GB Rowing Team Start programme at the University – finish just outside the medals in the women’s four final.
Parfett, Caragh McMurtry, Emily Ashford and Josephine Wratten won their repechage on Friday but had to settle for fourth place in the final in 6:45.48. Russia, Romania and Poland made up the top three.
The multi-sport European Championships continue throughout this week.
Sixteen University of Bath-based sportspeople and a further five alumni are competing across the various sports.
Courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.
