On a night where Great Britain won a further five medals at the LEN European Aquatics Championships 2016 in London, Ross Murdoch claimed GB’s third gold in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke.
After
qualifying fastest in yesterday’s semi-final Commonwealth Champion Murdoch
lined up in lane four against 2015 World Champion Marco Koch of Germany.
A powerful second 100m saw Murdoch power through to take the touch and win gold in a time of 2:08.33.
Murdoch said: “I’m so happy with that. I never imagined to get a gold medal here so I’m absolutely delighted.
“I could see Marco [Koch] creeping up on me and I knew I just had to keep my length and stay disciplined during that last length and it paid off.
“This just proved that all the hard work does pay off. I started working with my coach Ben [Higson] back in 2013 and I’ve never looked back.”
The Men’s 200m Breaststroke silver and bronze medals went to Germany’s Koch (2:08.40) and Italy’s Luca Pizzini (2:10.39) respectively.
Earlier in the evening Jazz Carlin opened the British medal account on day four of the championships in London with a silver in the Women’s 800m Freestyle.
The Brit delivered a strong and confident race in heavy training to finish second in a time of 8:23.52.
Carlin said: “I’m really happy with that. I've gained a lot confidence from that swim. To come here and swim like that has definitely given me a lot of confidence.
“All that support from the home crowd really made a difference to my swim, especially as I was fighting down that last length.
“There’s little things I’m working on, following the European Championships, but it’s really about keeping the strength and consistency that I’ve built up over the past few months and taking that with me through the rest of the season and into Rio.”
Carlin was joined on the podium by Slovenia’s Tjasa Oder who took bronze in a time of 8:25.68, the European title and gold medal went to Boglarka Kapas of Hungary in a time of 8:21.40.
The Women’s 200m Individual Medley saw double medal success for Great Britain as Siobhan-Marie O’Connor claimed silver and Hannah Miley claimed bronze.
O’Connor said afterwards: “It was a really hard swim up against Katinka [Hosszu] but it was a great swim. We’re still in hard training, so with a bit of taper and rest I know I could go faster than that.
“Having that home crowd behind me and Hannah tonight it really helped and pushed me on in that final length to secure silver for Great Britain.”
European Aquatics Championship debutant Kathleen Dawson claimed her first senior international medal for Great Britain with a bronze in the Women’s 100m Backstroke.
Dawson, who secured her medal in another sub 60 time of 59.68, said: “I can’t quite believe that. Just to break the minute mark was really special for me.
“I’m still a junior swimmer and I’ve bettered my personal best three times in a row in London. It feels really great.
“To come here and win a European medal is just unbelievable really. I’ve really been putting in the hard work and I knew it had to pay off at some point. I’m really glad it happened here.”
Women’s 100m Backstroke silver went to Katinka Hosszu of Hungary (58.94), and the European title and gold medal went to Mie Nielsen of Denmark (58.73).
For full results from day four finals and the LEN Aquatics Championships so far click here: http://london2016.microplustiming.com/Elite/indexLondonElite2016_web.php?sport=Swimming