Swimming: Lowe delighted with second medal

Apr 14 2008 The Journal

JEMMA Lowe won her second world championship medal in three days last night – then thanked the home crowd of 6,000 for inspiring her.

Borough of Stockton’s Lowe, whose 18th birthday celebrations have been on hold since the first day of the Olympic trials two weeks ago, also broke the British record for the second time in 24 hours as she took bronze in the women’s 100m butterfly.

Her time of 56.84sec was more than two seconds quicker than Birmingham swimmer Terri Dunning’s old British record.

That standard was broken three times in Manchester – first by Beckenham’s Ellie Gandy, then twice by Lowe. The Teessider’s bronze-winning time also brings her within a second of the world record, set in the same final by the gold medallist Felicity Galvez of Australia with 55.89.

Silver went to Rachel Komisarz of the USA in 56.32. Gandy was eighth in the final in 58.10.

Lowe, who also won bronze with the British record-breaking 4x100m medley relay team on Thursday.

She said: “The crowd here are amazing. When I walked out and heard the roar, it made me smile and gave me energy.

“There were some big, strong girls in that race but I was taking the crowd’s energy and support and using it.”

Lowe, who two weeks earlier qualified for the Olympics with British record-breaking swims in the trials at Sheffield, added: “These last two weeks have really boosted my confidence.

“I was nervous before the Olympic trials but once you have qualified, it’s a real boost.

“I came to Manchester to try to race hard and see how well I could do. I have surprised myself especially in how I have dealt with the atmosphere, which I have never experienced before.”

Lowe contributed to a final British medal haul of 24 at the championships.

David Davies (1500m freestyle silver), Liam Tancock (100m individual medley bronze), Caitlin McClatchey (200m freestyle bronze) and Fran Halsall (50m freestyle bronze) joined her in claiming podium finishes in yesterday’s final session.

In a highly-successful event for the home swimmers, 44 British records as well as nine Commonwealth and seven European marks were set – with 18 world records also broken.