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Key:

• Sydney: 2000 Olympic Games
• Fukuoka: 2001 Long Course World Championships
• Moscow: 2002 Short Course World Championships

women's backstroke

Much like men's butterfly, in recent years, women's backstroke has been something of a strength in domestic swimming, with Britain's three top women featuring near the top of the world rankings on a regular basis. Of course the name that stands out, both in British and world terms is Sarah Price, who is a red hot favourite for medals in the pool in Manchester.

Price is ranked number one in the 200 and 100m events and is almost a whole second clear of her nearest challenger in both, leaving her a the women the others must beat if they want the gold. Sarah is relishing the prospect of competing as top seed. "I enjoy going in as number one " she says "it does put pressure on but I like that and I want to keep my number one position." Since rediscovering her form over the longer event at the tail end of 2001, setting a world record in the short course pool, she has gone from strength to strength, breaking no fewer than fifteen British, five Commonwealth and two European records. She currently holds all of the British record for backstroke, both long and short course, and must be England's best bet for a gold medal in the pool.

But Price is nothing if not realistic, and appreciates that she will not have it all her own way. When pullbuoy spoke to her, she singled out her own England team mates, the Canadians and of course the Australians as those likely to challenge for the medals. England have a strong line up with defending 200m champion Katy Sexton back in the team after injury and world bronze medallist Jo Fargus the third of the English trio. both girls will expect to make finals, and Fargus in particular will have hers eyes on medals in the 100 and 200, being ranked 4th in both. The 50m is the weakest for the home challenge, in pure ranking terms, but expect at least one English girl on the podium for all of the backstroke events.

The Canadians have sent possibly their strongest team to contest the backstroke events. World short course champion and number one ranked Jennifer Carroll lines up in the 50m sprint and if she can translate her short course form to the 50m pool as well as she has done so far this season, will be a strong contender for gold. Medley specialist Liz Warden is also a contender, currently being ranked 3rd in the 200m. Elsewhere the Canadians will be looking for finals placings, but must be considered outsiders for medals, with Michelle Lischinksy, Erin Gammel and Jennifer Fratesi all ranked 5th in the 50, 100 and 200 respectively.

Which brings us to the Australians, who will as usual be looking to take every gold in this category. Dyana Calub, Giann Rooney and Clementine Stoney represent a very strong line up and all of them are certainties to make their respective finals. Once there anything could happen, but their best hope would seem to be in the 50m, where Calub and Rooney are 2nd and 3rd ranked, with less than 0.2s covering the top 3.