Belton out of 4×200? Never mind, Bill’s happy!

Rumours are circulating in Manchester that Janine Belton’s place in the England Women’s 4x200m relay team is in jeopardy following her below par performance in the individual event earlier this week. Belton, who was a member of the world championship winning team in Fukuoka, recorded a time of 2.03.65, well outside her best time of 2.01.33. The alternatives should she be dropped would seem to be backstroker Jo Fargus (PB 2.02.02) who came 5th in the trials, Margaretha Pedder or even Sarah Price. Whoever makes up the team, they will join individual medallists Karen Pickering and Karen Legg and fly specialist Georgina Lee to have a great chance of taking the gold.

Meanwhile Bill Sweetenham is reported to be content with performance of the home swimmers so far. He replied “pretty good” when asked what he thought of the British swims to date.