2003 british trials - preview
Those highly prized places on the plane to Barcelona are up for grabs this week as the British trials get under way at Sheffield's Ponds Forge pool to select the team for the forthcoming World Championships.
The hardest to call would seem to be the breaststroke events, both men and women. The men's side shows tremendous strength in depth with Commonwealth champion Adam Whitehead, British record holder James Gibson, new short course British record holder Chris Cook, Darren Mew and Ian Edmond all scrapping for the two available spaces on the team. Cook had the most impressive winter, smashing his own personal best and the British and Commonwealth short course records in the Stockholm world cup meet, and also performing admirably at the post tour time trials. He should be there or thereabouts, but don't discount Gibson. The Loughborough man has taken a different approach this winter and may want to reassert himself as Britain's number one in the 50 and 100m events. Over the longer 200m distance, Edmond should feature more heavily.
The ladies are just as intriguing. Many saw Lincoln's Kate Haywood as the great white hope following her impressive swims at last year's European Junior Championships, but Coventry's Rachel Genner has slipped in almost unannounced to take the number one ranking, breaking Jaime King's 100m British record earlier this year. King will also be in the hunt for a team place, as will Edinburgh's Kirsty Balfour. Genner should have the upper hand though and a fantastic scrap will take place behind her. The 100m form of Zoe Baker, now intending to swim in this country with Loughborough, will also be worth looking out for as she seeks to step up from the 50m event in time for the Athens Olympics.
Pullbuoy swimmers of the year 2002 Steve Parry and Sarah Price will also be looking to make a statement at these championships. Parry missed out on Fukuoka two years ago and will renew his long term rivalry with James Hickman as he bids to avoid that same disappointment this year. Price meanwhile should have little trouble in dealing with her domestic rivals in the backstroke events and will probably have her eyes on a sub 2:10 swim over the 200m event. More interesting will be the form of Durham's Stephanie Proud. The 14 year old was mighty impressive over the winter short course season and with Jo Fargus absent might just push Price all the way to the wall.
Elsewhere, the welcome return of Robin Francis to the national stage will be a highlight and it will be interesting to see if he can recapture the form of last year's trials. Equally with Margie Peddar and Georgina Lee remaining in the United States to compete in the NCAA championships, Durham youngster Joanne Jackson heads the entrants for the 200m fly, in an event that promises to be one of the most open races of the week.
National Performance Director Bill Sweetenham has once again made it abundantly clear that a high level of performance is expected. Speaking after last year's British Short Course Championships in Cambridge, he stressed that to continue making progress, our top swimmers need to be swimming faster at these trials than they did at the Manchester Commonwealth Games. This view is reflected in the qualifying standards that have been set - several of the automatic qualification times are equal to or faster than current British records. We should therefore expect some fireworks in the pool this week.