World bronze for Renshaw

BRITAIN’S Molly Renshaw won bronze in the 200m breaststroke on the final day of the World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi.

The 25-year-old, who trains at Loughborough National Centre, continued her stellar form to secure a spot on the podium.

The day before, she lowered the British record for the 100m breaststroke for the second consecutive time in the final to finish in fifth place overall.

Renshaw’s time of 2:17.96 was less than a second away from the British record set of 2:17.10 set by Jocelyn Ulyett in 2019.

The Loughborough-based star took an early lead in the women’s 200m breaststroke final but touched the wall in third place after a competitive last 50m, with just 0.11 seconds separating the top three.

American Emily Escobedo claimed gold with Russian Evgeniia Chikunova second.

“I’m really happy with that,” said two-time Olympian Renshaw, who narrowly missed out on a new personal best.

“Obviously, it was a really close race at the end, so it’s gutting to just miss out on gold or silver – but it’s been a really long year, and to get so close to my personal best time, I’m really happy.

“Next year is going to be really busy with the Worlds, Commonwealths and Europeans, so now I’m just going to take a bit of a break, reset and go again in January.

“I think exploring the 100m a bit more is definitely going to be part of my programme into next year, and I’m quite excited about that, because that’s where I think I’ve got quite a bit of room for improvement.

“My 200m, I’m really happy with that, and if I can keep chipping away at it then great, because there’s a lot of room for improvement on the 100m.”