Swimming: Jemma in smashing form now

Apr 4 2008 The Journal

JEMMA Lowe smashed her second British record in four days at the Olympic trials last night – then handed some of the credit to one of her rivals.

Moments before her own heat of the 100m butterfly, the Borough of Stockton teenager watched City of Liverpool’s Fran Halsall break her old record with a time of 58.44secs.

Her response could hardly have been more impressive. After turning at 50m in 27.09secs, she came home to stop the clock on 57.78 – almost a second quicker than her old British record and two seconds inside the Olympic qualifying time.

Lowe, who marked her 18th birthday on Monday with a British record and Olympic qualification in the 200m butterfly, said: “Seeing somebody steal my record in the heat before got me a bit angry. It also made me feel a bit scared.

“It’s a brilliant result. I was feeling confident after our gold in the medley relay at the European Championships last month and the 200m here. But I was still quite nervous because of trying to make sure I had the qualifying time. I’ve been waiting around since the 200m final on Tuesday morning and just wanted to get the race over with.”

Lowe is now third in the world rankings behind Australians Libby Trickett and Jessicah Schipper, although a handful of other girls can be expected to go quicker between now and the Olympics.

Lowe and Halsall are among four still contending two Olympic places, as Beckenham’s Ellen Gandy and Terri Dunning from City of Birmingham also recorded Olympic qualifying times in the heats.

The first two of these in today’s final will claim the Olympic places. But sadly there will be no place on the team for Lowe’s Stockton team-mate Jess Dickons, whose fifth place in the heats in 59.81 was just outside the qualifying standard.

Derwentside’s Jo Jackson was one of four swimmers to record an Olympic qualifying time with 8:35.93 in the heats of the 800m freestyle. She is already qualified in the 400m freestyle but will need to beat at least two of her rivals in the 800m final on Saturday to secure a second event in Beijing. They include Nottingham’s Rebecca Adlington, whose time of 8:19.22 smashed the oldest British record in the books, held by Sarah Hardcastle since 1986.

City of Newcastle’s Chris Cook was unable to add the 200m breaststroke to his Olympic programme. The new British record-holder over 100m could finish only seventh in the heats in 2:16.41, well outside the Olympic qualifying time. Team-mate Robert Shaw was 21st in 2:23.38.

Newcastle’s Andy Mayor reached the men’s 100m butterfly final seventh fastest in 54.13.