News

One morning session of finals wrapped up the Missouri Grand Prix Meet Monday. Warrender's three Scottish representatives were all in action again, although were slightly disappointed not to improve on their swims of the previous evening. Lewis Smith finished in 6th position in the 200m I.M. 'A' final in 2:06.72, Billy Purnell raced to 7th in the 'B' final with 2:10.80, and Ewan Johnston equalled his heat time when placing 2nd in the 'C' final in 2:10.24. Purnell also battled to a 7th place finish in the 'C' final of the 100m backstroke in 59.56.

The main highlights of the session were two very close world record attempts by Kirsty Coventry who just missed the global standard in both the 100 backstroke (59.47) and 200 I.M. (2:10.08). Michael Phelps was the epitome of versatility as he won the 100 butterfly (51.52), placed 2nd in the 100 backstroke (53.70) and then came 6th in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.57), all within 30 minutes of each other. There was also a great swim in the men's 1500m freestyle with Erik Vendt just missing the American record in a world leading time of 14:47.

In summary, the meet provided the Scottish team with some very high calibre race practice that will no doubt prove invaluable for the British Olympic Trials in a few weeks time. In particular, the opportunity to simulate the Trials situation by racing tough evening heats and even tougher morning finals was incredibly beneficial. The Scottish team competed whilst still in heavy training and the team staff were delighted that everyone stepped up to the plate against many of the world's best swimmers, some of whom were competing in a tapered condition. The staff picked out Ewan Johnston as the highlight of the group based on the personal best times he set in 4 out of his 5 races at his first senior international competition.