stage 3 meet preview: who's going down under?
Katy Sexton: still some distance to go to achieve qualification. Photo: ©SWPix
The Stage 3 meet in Swansea this weekend will finally provide confirmation of who will be wearing the red rose of England and the Welsh dragon in Melbourne next year, with both countries using the meet as their final selection opportunity. Up to 31 places are available in the England squad, with only 5 swimmers having confirmed their spots at the trials in August, so much is riding on the performances in the National Pool of Wales.
With the passing of the first opportunity for selection at the trials, a new set of criteria come into force to finalise the make up of the squad. Winners, and indeed runners up, in finals in Swansea have only to better the B time to be assured of selection, although that time is in itself a significant challenge being at worst equal to the world top 16 time in 2004.
If spaces still remain after this criteria is applied to the results, then further swimmers can be selected provided they have swum within the C qualifying time, which equates to the 6th best Commonwealth time in 2004. On most occasions this is an easier standard, but fore many events the concession is very small. Final selection for Wales follows a similar patter with swimmers shaving to achieve A or B selection times, the faster of which is roughly consistent with the C standard for the Commonwealth team.
From an English perspective much is riding on the performances this weekend or the prospect of a very small team making its way down under looms. Swimmers such as Mel Marshall, Kate Haywood and James Gibson, who all just missed out on automatic qualification in August, would expect to meet at least the B time in Swansea and thereby secure selection. As well as her more usual 200m freestyle, Marshall will also attempt to qualify in the 200m backstroke, a feat of which she is eminently capable, and an interesting tactic given that the dorsal event looks decidedly easier in Melbourne than the freestyle.
Perhaps more interesting though will be the form of those who were decidedly under par in Montreal. In particular, 2003 world champion Katy Sexton and Darren Mew, a Commonwealth medallist at the past two games, will be under the microscope to see whether changes to their training made since the world championships have borne fruit. Both would be expected to be in the medal hunt in Melbourne should they achieve selection.
Also of note will be the performance of the new crop of teenage girls who will be departing almost immediately from this meet to compete in China. Lizzie Simmonds, Ellen Gandy, Jessica Dickons, and Jordan Tomlinson will be outside chances of selection for England, with Simmonds the standout chance in the 200m backstroke, while the fifth member of the group, Jemma Lowe will have an outstanding chance of selection for Wales in the 200m butterfly. Elsewhere, Lowri Tynan in the breaststroke events and Owen Morgan in the sprints stand out as definite Welsh selection chances.