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Olympic Trials - Day 4 Finals & Heats

Thursday morning finals action at Sheffield's Ponds Forge pool saw Billy Purnell further lower his personal best in the 'B' final of the Men's 200m Backstroke.  Billy swam a well paced race to finish second in 2:04.22, just inside his previous best from the heats last night.  Sally Wood raced the 'B' final of the Women's 200m IM ending up in 4th place (12th overall) with 2:22.07.

In the multi-disability events Sean Fraser progressed to the Men's 100m Backstroke final after an excellent heat performance of 1:11.64 that reduced his career best by almost two seconds.  The evening final saw Sean reduce this further to 1:11.18 for a 6th place finish overall.

The Men's 400m I.M. highlighted the evening heats session with three swimmers taking their place on the blocks for Warrender.  Anticipation was high for Lewis Smith as he attempted to achieve the Olympic Qualification Time of 4:18.40.  Swimming in the first of the seeded heats, Lewis knew he would have to swim the majority of the race in the lead out of his own.  Taking a firm grip of the opening butterfly leg, Lewis looked strong and maintained this during the backstroke sectionl.  However, on the breaststroke leg he began to slip off the pace and despite a good finish on freestyle his time fell just short of the required standard with 4:20.56.  It was disappointment for the twenty year old but he resolved to have another go in the final tomorrow. 

Team-mate Billy Purnell swam a well disciplined race to qualify for the 'B' final in 4:30.59 while Ross Woolley continued the great week he is having by recording another lifetime best of 4:40.38.

In the heats of the Men's 100m Butterfly, Ewan Johnston felt the benefits of wearing the new but controversail Speedo LZR bodysuit, storming to a time of 56.49, fully two seconds inside his previous best set in February at the Missouri Grand Prix.  Fiona Booth also found the new suit useful in the Women's 100 Butterfly, establishing a career best of 1:01.91 to qualify for the 'B' final.  In the Men's 200m Breaststroke, Kyle Goodfellow was two seconds down on his best with 2:22.91.