Britain’s juniors showed great strength of character in Lisbon on the second night of finals at the European Junior championships as they bounced back from their opening night disappointments to claim two gold and two bronze medals. At the halfway stage the team now has 6 medals, well on the way to the target of 12 set by national coach John Atkinson.
The biggest hope for the evening was undoubtedly Stephanie Proud, who added to her 2003 title over 200m by taking gold in the girls 100m backstroke, her second medal of the meet. Her time of 1:02.83 was 0.58s ahead of the runner up and the Durham teenager never looked like losing the event, having successfully improved her times through the three rounds. Team-mate Lorna Smith came home in 6th in the final.
It was one of Britain’s rising distance stars who took the night’s other gold medal as Rebecca Adlington swept through the field in the 800m freestyle claiming the title in 8:39.63 to finish over a second clear of Spain’s Arantxa Ramos
Both of the bronze medals were won by the boys’ team. The 4x200m freestyle relay team of Dean Milwain, Lewis Owens, Liam Wardley and Andy Hunter combined to post a time 7:30.82, easily enough for third spot. Hunter also took the team’s other podium place earlier in the session in the 400m freestyle, storming home in 3:54.44 to take the bronze medal behind winner Paul Biedermann of Germany and France’s Sébastien Rouault.
Michael Rock and Matthew Edwards couldn’t quite live up to their promise, Rock taking fourth and Edwards eighth in the 100m butterfly final. Edwards will now have his eyes firmly set on his more favoured 200m event tomorrow. Meanwhile Lorna Tonks maintained her position as she came home fifth in the girls’ 100m freestyle final and Rachel Wilson posted a creditable 6th place finish in the 200m breaststroke, improving her time from the semi final by almost 2.5 seconds. Elsewhere, Scott Houston was 6th in the 200m backstroke and Justine Clark 7th in the 50m butterfly