The future of British medley swimming is looking bright: Siobhan-Marie O’Connor knocked nearly a second off her PB in the 200m IM semis, dropping from 2.14.14 to 2.13.26. She responded excellently to the big stage (that looks pretty much like a rock concert arena from here) and really went out for it at the start. Her back half will come along in time as she gets older and stronger.
Hannah Miley has obviously been spurred on by having a young upstart snapping at her heels - she put in a nifty free leg of 30.8 to muscle her way into the final and join the sub-2.11 club (only Rice, Ye, Kukors, Coutts and Belmonte have gone quicker this year, and Belmonte missed the final cut in Shanghai) in 2.10.95. That’s only 0.06 off her textile best and Miley is getting ever closer to her shiny suit British record of 2:09.46. I think if she can go sub 2.10 in the final she can get a medal, but if anyone wants to beat Steph Rice they’re going to have to go under 28 seconds on the fly leg… whatever happens, this race will be awesome to watch.
