Liam Tancock ensures golden climax at the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai
Last updated 8/3/2011 9:25:07 AM
Liam Tancock ensures golden climax at the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai
British swimmers were able to put the misery of the last few days behind them when Liam Tancock came up with the goods yet again.
The powerful Tancock secured Great Britain's third gold medal at the World Championships in Shanghai with a dominant swim in the 50m Backstroke.
The defending champion, who has now won five medals in four World Championships, touched in 24.50 just ahead of France's Camille Lacourt.
It did not end there as Britain's Hannah Miley also produced a superb swim in the 400m individual medley to take silver in 4:34.22.
"This is the closest thing to the Olympics. I'm so happy," Miley said.
"I saw the Chinese girl coming back and my little legs couldn't kick fast enough but I managed to hold on," said Miley, who finished second to the American Elizabeth Beisel, who finished in a time of 4:31.78.
"It shows that sometimes it is not all about the facilities but about great coaching and I have certainly got that."
But Fran Halsall was forced to settle for another fourth-place finish, this time in the 50m freestyle.
The gold went to Sweden's Therese Alshammer, who ended her long wait for world championship gold after winning in a time of 24.14, narrowly ahead of Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands.
But an upbeat Halsall insisted she was pleased with her performance.
"I am not too disappointed to be honest," Halsall said.
"I didn't expect to do anything in this event so if I can get some good training in over Christmas then maybe I can convert some of these fourths and fifths into medals."
China's Sun Yang set a new world record in the men's 1500m freestyle, finishing in a time of 14:34.14.
Sun did not look like breaking swimming's longest-standing world record but, spurred on by his vociferous home support, Sun toppled Australian Grant Hackett's 10-year-old mark of 14:34.56.
American Ryan Lochte added a fifth gold medal to his collection after he destroyed the field to win the 400m individual medley in a time of 4:07.13, just four seconds outside Michael Phelps' world record time.