England’s Siobhan Marie O’Connnor ended Garioch swimmer Hannah Miley’s great medal run in the 200m individual medley in the British Gas champion- ships at the Tollcross International Centre, Glasgow, last night.
Miley, the 24-year-old two-time Olympian from Inverurie, will be defending the 400m medley in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer but the English teenager proved the north-east swimmer’s medal chances will be tougher in the shorter event.
Miley was the fastest qualifier from the 200m heats but she could not live with the pace set by 18-year-old O’Connor, who had already won the 200m freestyle on Thursday.
O’Connor’s 2min 09.71sec is not only an English record but is the second-fastest time in the world this year. Aimee Wilmott was second in 2:10.80 while Miley, the champion for six years and then bronze-medallist 12 months ago, had to settle for fourth in 2:11.99.
But Miley, 24, has had a heavy workload over the past fortnight. She won six titles in last week’s Scottish Gas championships and she had the consolation that her time was her quickest of the year.
For O’Connor, it was another outstanding performance and she is not only looking to medal in Glasgow but also for Team GB in the 2016 Olympic Games.
“I’m really happy with the swim,” said the teenager. “I went out fast and didn’t have a lot left coming down the last 25m. But I really dug deep.”
For the University of Stirling’s Ross Murdoch, there was yet another super swim in the 50m breaststroke. He was the fastest in the semi-finals in 27.57sec.
On Saturday, Murdoch swam the 100m breaststroke in a Scottish record 59.56sec. Michael Jamieson took bronze and seventh-placed Craig Benson completed an impressive Scottish hat-trick by clinching a Commonwealth Games nomination time.
For Jamieson, third place in 1:00.53 confirmed that he will be concentrating on his favourite 200m at Glasgow 2014.