Miley, Rogan, Lochte Shake The Tree
2008-04-09
Craig Lord
Could this be the night when a British woman sets a medley world record; can Markus Rogan burst through his string of silver linings for a rare global gold; will Ryan Lochte prompt the biggest bout of sulking among breaststroke aces we've ever seen?

Could this be the night when a British woman sets a medley world record; can Markus Rogan burst through his string of silver linings for what would be the first global gold of a career; will Ryan Lochte prompt the biggest bout of sulking among breaststroke aces we've ever seen?

Hannah Miley, of Aberdeenshire in Scotland, raced inside world-record pace for the first 300m of the 400m medley on her way to axing 3.18sec off her own British record to progress to lane four of the final in 4:29.82 (splits: 1:02.87; 2:10.42; 3:26.38; 4:29.82), ahead of Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), on 4:33.54.

The new top five:


4:27.83 Klochkova UKR 2002
4:29.00 Dai Guohong CHN 1994
4:29.46 Hetzer GER 2002
4:29.83 Miley GBR 2008
4:29.86 Filippi GBR 2007

Miley eclipsed Olympic champion Yana Klochkova's European long-course record in the 400m medley last week and is aiming to take down the Ukraine swimmer's world record here at a home championships. 'It's just good to go that fast after last week. It shows I am a versatile swimmer. I can get back and do it again and again.' Coventry had already raced before she cruised into the medley final, leading the pack through to the semis of the 100m backstroke with a 58.41, ahead of improver Liz Coster (NZL), on 58.71. The 25-year-old's previous best was 59.48, from the 2006 championships in Shanghai.

Her teammate Glenn Snyders (NZL) was also in fine form, a 58.67 taking him through to the 100m breaststroke semis at the helm, ahead of three others under 59sec, the last one of those Ryan Lochte (USA), on 58.98 and on course to upset the specialists. Snyders, 20, dipped under the minute for the first time in December, two years after setting a previous best of 1:00.99 at the 2006 championships in Shanghai. Another Kiwi to lead the way was Moss Burmester, in 51.37 in the 100m butterfly.

Having on more silver medals than a man ought to wear round his neck - he was best man not groom seven times at Olympic and world championship level - Rogan (AUT) raced to the helm of qualifiers in the 100m backstroke in 51.30. Breathing down his neck is Liam Tancock, the Brit who broke the world l/c record over 50m backstroke last week.

The host nation had a great opening morning, with Liam Tancock, Miley and Jemma Lowe all breaking national records. Between the three of them, they set 1 world, 2 European and six British records at Olympic trials in Sheffield last week. And this morning they added to the score with the following: Tancock raced to a 100m backstroke British record of 51.43 and Lowe clocked 2:05.87 in the 200m butterfly before Miley did her thing. Tancock said: 'I came here to swim fast. I wanted to get in and give it a good shot this morning. It was just about going fast in the morning, which is what we will have to do in Beijing. I wasn't able to do the 100m backstroke at the trials so it's good to take the opportunity to do it here.'

Like Miley, Lowe raced inside world-record pace at the halfway before easing back. 'Last week was really hyped up, I was nervous for every event. I'm just excited to see what I could do here. There is far less pressure,' said Lowe.

Britain teammate Kate Haywood was second-fastest through in the 50m breaststroke, Jessica Hardy (USA) leading the way, while David Carry went through second-best in the 200m freestyle, sandwiched between Italians Massimiliano Rosolino and Filippo Magnini.

A great morning for Britain after a shadow had loomed on the horizon at dawn: Mark Foster said something nice about Bill Sweetenham at last - 'My strained relationship with the former performance director, Bill Sweetenham, is well known but one thing I have always maintained is that he put a good structure in place for our youngsters, and we are now seeing the benefits of that', he was ghost-written as saying in a national paper today (not a good idea in general when you're part of a national team, in my opinion, if only because if you have a pop at people, other media may take a pop back at you, which is not what a team needs all in all). And then he went and spoiled it all by saying something stupid like I hate you Bill, a follow-up line stating: 'I have already noticed the atmosphere in the team, and on the poolside, has changed - it is far more relaxed. Australian Michael Scott has taken over as team leader and has his own way of doing things. Sweetenham, also Australian, was all about telling people what to do; Michael asks people what they need. There is no fear now.'

There never was among the vast majority and those who called fear fear had much more to fear from their own shortcomings. Wide of the Mark, and time to move on Mark. There is no malice in Mark but it really is time to move on. Perhaps we'll have more positive news to report when he takes to the water.

The finals tonight, meantime, promise a show like no other seen in swimming so far. A new way of presenting swimmers on the poolside with a lights show and a black backdrop promises to add much to the drama of the occasion and has been widely anticipated by all. There were lots of kids in the stands this morning, their youthful exuberance providing a good atmosphere on the first morning. We'll soon know whether organisers have over-priced the event with what are relatively high ticket prices: for best seats, a family for four would have to fork out £120.00. Forget it - not going to happen. Seems to me that organisers miss a trick with this stuff: get the crowd through the door for a fiver if necessary, entertain them and sell then the food, drink and merchandise. Turn them away with high ticket prices and you can kiss goodbye to the merchandising potential too, of course.

Germany, Japan and Macau had reason to be a little off colour this morning: they were up at just before 5am after the fire alarm in their hotel provided a little practice for Beijing early morning rising.