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British Championships & World Trials - Day 3

Apr 13, 2001  - Anita Lonsbrough

Sarah Price and Darren Mew doubled the number of British swimmers who have qualified for the World Championships on Day Three of the British Championships being held at the Manchester Aquatic Centre.

Price the twenty-one year old, established her second British and Commonwealth records in as many days to put herself on top of the world so far this year.

Making amends for her disappointing performance in Sydney, she her first mark in the semi-final and went even faster in the final to lower it to 1min 01.32sec. After a very fast opening 50m in 30.00 new figures were clearly on the cards.

Keeping up the pressure she lowered her previous best by 400th to equal the fastest time record this year. In the runners up spot and 0;74sec in arrears was the previous record holder Katy Sexton the Commonwealth 200m champion.

A very excited Price admitted afterwards, "I enjoyed that. It hurt more than yesterday". Adding, "This is a big step forward for me".

Mew achieved his qualification time in the 100m breaststroke narrowly failing to beat the nine year old British record held by Nick Gillingham. A fast early pace of 28.36sec for the opening length was set by James Gibson the British record holder for the 50m.

As the field charged for the line it was Mew who proved to have that all important extra strength and finishing speed. His time of 1min 01.52sec was just 0.19 short of the British mark but it did make him the first male swimmer to qualify for the Worlds

A second British record came from Georgina Lee the Birmingham swimmer who now trains at the Southern Methodist University in Texas, USA. Lee holder of the British record for the 200m distance a mark she established in the semi-final at last year's Sydney Olympic Games.

Yesterday she added the 100m shaving 300th inside Susan Rolph's figures. Afterwards Lee admitted to being "really pleased. Unfortunately it's not the qualification time for Japan but it's a significant improvement on my best". Adding, "It bodes wAell for my 200m tomorrow".