Silver medal adds lustre to Carry’s Olympic spot
Swimming
SCOTLAND’S David Carry claimed his Olympic place in the 400m freestyle on Wednesday and he added another medal with a silver in the 200m freestyle at last night’s British Gas ASA National Championships at the Ponds Forge Pool in Sheffield.
The gold and the reward of an individual place alongside City of Glasgow’s Robbie Renwick in Team GB went to Wales’ Ieuan Lloyd, who finished in 1:47.55, just 0.31 secs ahead of Carry.
Stirling’s Jak Scott, who was in the British 4 x 200m freestyle relay squad at last year’s World Championships, finished seventh in 1:49.89.
In the women’s 200m breaststroke, Edinburgh University’s Corrie Scott set a personal best of 2:30.89 and claimed a bronze medal behind Molly Renshaw (2:27.72) and Danielle Lowe (2:30.74).
Warrender’s Craig McNally also secured a bronze medal, finishing third in 1:58.45 in the 200m backstroke. Chris WalkerHebborn (Ellesmere County) took gold in 1:57.17. Marco Loughran finished second and issued a perfect response to his Facebook detractors after booking his place on Team GB.
For Loughran, 23, the silver medal and Team GB spot provided a mixture of emotions and a positive conclusion to a turbulent six months which saw him quit the sport in December after a major fall-out with his coaches at the University of Florida, where he swam alongside Olympic champion Ryan Lochte as well as British world record holder Gemma Spofforth.
He returned to Britain at the turn of the year, 19 January to be exact, and started training again at Guildford City, and six months later booked an Olympic spot.
With Walker-Hebborn a clear winner, Loughran dug deep and ducked 0.14secs inside the required FINA A time in 1min 58.34secs. For the Welshman it answered his critics.
Loughran said: “I’ve had some people in America – random haters sending me messages on Facebook saying I couldn’t do it, I’d left it too late. They [his Facebook abusers] are just random American girls. I must have ignored them at a competition or signing or something.
“I got through to the final, came back and showed them what I’m made of and I’m so proud of myself now.”
Last night also exorcised the memory of 2008 when he was beaten to the team by Commonwealth champion James Goddard, who subsequently withdrew from the backstroke to concentrate on the individual medley. “It’s been four years – ever since Beijing when Jimmy Goddard pulled out of the 200 backstroke all I’ve had in my head is an empty lane because that should have been my spot, and now it is.”