Carlin leads Brits to three World Silvers
Adam Peaty, Jazz Carlin and the 4x50m Mixed Relay squad all claimed silver medals as Great Britain took their total to four at the World Short-Course Championships in Doha.
Peaty lowered his British record in the 100m Breaststroke to 56.35 – the third time he had set a new mark in two days.
He returned in the final event along with Chris Walker-Hebborn, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor and Fran Halsall as the mixed relay and finished second behind Brazil in a new British record of 1:37.46.
Carlin also set a new British Record as she took silver in the 800m Freestyle, lowering Becky Adlington’s 2008 mark to 8:08.16.
Peaty had twice lowered the British record yesterday en-route to the final, finishing the day with a championship mark of 56.43. The 19-year-old declared his dream to be a sub 56-second swim and the gold medal.
Tonight the City of Derby swimmer surfaced some way off the leaders and had to fight to get back into a challenging position.
Third at halfway Peaty produced the fastest second 50m in the entire field but he was out-touched by just 0.06secs by Brazilian Felipe Franca Silva in a new Championship mark of 56.35.
“I don’t like coming second but it is short course and my weaker event,” said Peaty. “It can help to come second sometimes and that is going to fuel me all the way through the winter, these next few months – it is just what I needed.”
Carlin fought out a battle with Sharon van Rouwendaal as Mireia Belmonte dominated the 800m Freestyle.
The Welshwoman was not to be beaten though and her determination saw her refuse to relinquish second.
“For me short course is pretty tough, mentally I find it pretty tough because I know my turns are not the strongest part of my race.
“Coming into this meet I didn’t really have high expectations but I gave it a go – my legs are sore – but coming away with a silver medal is a great way to end this year. I am very happy with that.”
The third medal came in the final event of the session when Walker-Hebborn (23.42), Peaty (25.89), (25.10) and (23.05) finished just 0.20secs off Brazil in gold.
Walker-Hebborn said: “It’s nice to be consistent. I won a medal and I’ve got the actual 50m event tomorrow.”
Halsall beamed: “First race of the meet, first medal of the meet – that’s not bad. It was really good to swim.”
O’Connor added: “That was really good. You never know who has rested. We all swam our best, we couldn’t have done anything else and we’ve got a medal.”
Georgia Davies was eighth in the final of the 100m Backstroke.
Davies had set a Welsh record in the semi-finals to advance to the final in fourth place and seemingly in with a chance of a medal.
The 24-year-old was fifth at halfway but the race went away from her over the second 50m as she touched in 57.77. The race was won by Katinka Hosszu in a new world record of 55.03.
O’Connor also set two new British records in the 100m Individual Medley. Firstly she reduced it to 57.98 before further lowering it to 57.66 tonight to qualify fastest for tomorrow’s final.
Ben Proud twice lowered his personal best in the 50m Freestyle. He took 0.10secs off his previous best to record 21.52 to reach the semi-final.
He lowered that further to 21.44 in the evening although it was not enough to see the Plymouth Leander swimmer through to the final.
The British Gas GBR Swimming team comprises:
Adam Barrett - British Gas GBR National Centre, Loughborough
James Guy - Millfield
Adam Peaty – City of Derby
Ben Proud – Plymouth Leander
Chris Walker-Hebborn - British Gas GBR National Centre, Bath
Jazz Carlin – Swansea Performance Centre
Georgia Davies - British Gas GBR National Centre, Loughborough
Fran Halsall - British Gas GBR National Centre, Loughborough
Hannah Miley – Garioch
Siobhan Marie O’Connor - British Gas GBR National Centre, Bath
Sophie Taylor – London Aquatic Performance Programme
