2003 british championships review
Bill Sweetenham would seem to have great cause to be rubbing his hands with glee following an astonishing British Championships in Sheffield last week. Sweetenham had called for Britain's top swimmers to swim faster at these trials than they had managed at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester last year. That so many did so speaks volumes for the sea change that has taken place in British swimming over the past two years as a series of world class performances were posted.
For pure shock value alone one name stood head and shoulders above the rest - Katy Sexton. For nearly three years Sarah Price has been the queen of British backstroke, amassing a clean sweep of titles and records on her way to complete dominance. But all of that mattered little to Portsmouth's Sexton, who not so much turned the form book upside down, as ripped it up on her way to not only the 100 and 200 backstroke titles, but the Commonwealth records as well. Price must have wondered what she had to do, as she improved her best times significantly, but the Northsea swimmer, clearly reaping the benefits of an uninterrupted winter training programme, simply improved more. Sexton's time over the 100 of 1:00.49 ranks her as the 6th fastest ever over the distance, whilst her 2:09.27 in the 200 erased one of the oldest Commonwealth records in the book. A sensational weeks swimming, with an exciting prospect for British backstroke in Barcelona ahead.
There are few, if any, countries in world swimming that could have produced a race like the one seen over the men's 1500m at these trials. Graeme Smith and David Davies played act and mouse for almost the whole 30 lengths of the Ponds Forge pool to both record times under 15:07.00. The race was a great spectacle and Davies' continued improvement is an extremely positive sign for the future of British distance freestyle, but both swimmers have work to do if they are to get anywhere near Grant Hackett's supremacy in this event.
Amongst a host of commonwealth and British records, one swim in particular stood out. James Gibson had been on the end of some sharp criticism form Bill Sweetenham over the winter, but he has clearly taken the message to heart. His 100m breastroke performance ion the final day of competition, in which he broke his own British and Commonwealth record in posting a superb 1:00.47. For 90m of the race the 60 second barrier looked a distinct possibility but Gibson just faded into the wall. A repeat performance in Barcelona this July will surely see the Loughborough man with a medal around his neck. Whether this has been achieved at the expense of his 50m speed remains to be seen, but Gibson's Athens hopes will have been given a welcome boost, given that the 50m is yet to become an Olympic event.
All the talk in the ladies 100m breaststroke had been about new British Record holder Rachel Genner leading into the final of the event. No real chance had been given to Bath's Jaime King, formerly the British record holder and a three time Olympian. But King stepped up when it mattered most, to snatch back her record and assure herself of selection for Barcelona. One can only hope she is able to reproduce that kind of form when it matters most.