athens2004

burnett fires but others splutter

Simon Burnett booked his place in the final of the Olympic 200m freestyle with a superb British Record of 1:47.72 but there was disappointment for Britain’s breaststrokers in their final as James Gibson and Darren Mew came home 6th and 7th respectively in the 100m.
Burnett had been drawn in the semi with Pieter van Den Hoogenband and hung onto the Dutchman throughout to come home in a lifetime best with almost a second improvement. He now take his place in what is being dubbed the race of the century tomorrow night.
For Gibson and Mew, much had been expected from them but despite being in contention for much of the race they both faded in the final 10m to drift out of contention and disappointingly finish well outside their best times.
Elsewhere, Both Sarah Price and Katy Sexton failed to progress to the 100m backstroke final, Price having injured herself in the warm up by colliding with an underwater camera, while Rebecca Cooke couldn’t repeat her lifetime best performance of 4:08.18 from the heats of the 400m freestyle in the final, coming home in 8th place.