Sunday 3 October 2010

Commonwealth Games Swimming Preview - Women's Freestyle

50m Free
1. Fran Halsall - European Champs showed why much is expected of Halsall in 2012.
2. Yolane Kukla - One of the world's most exciting talents. Commonwealth's could be just a taster of what to expect for years to come.
3. Victoria Poon - Third at Pan Pacs in 24.74. Beat Kukla in the final that day.

Wildcard
Marieke Guehrer - Strong Pan Pacs performance (24.99). Guehrer has a tendency to perform well in 50m finals at major competitions.


100m Free
1. Fran Halsall - Won European's untapered in 53.38. Has a real shot of ending the year as the World No.1
2.Yolane Kukla - Kukla had a strong showing at Pan Pacs and at such a young age is capable of big drops in time.
3. Emily Seebohm- Second at Pan Pacs with 53.96. Has the potential to medal in all 8 of her events.

Wildcard
Amy Smith - Having a great 2010. Was on good form at Europeans with a 54.48 and is still improving.

200m Free
1. Rebecca Adlington - Will mark the first time Adlington has swum 200m Free individual at a major meet. In what promises to be a very tight race, Adlington's finishing ability might just win it for the 800m specialist.
2. Blair Evans - Strong showing at Pan Pacs (3rd - 1:57.27) puts her very much in the frame for Delhi.
3. Bronte Barratt - Outstanding result from Aussie Nationals back in March (1:57.46), could see her drop into the 1:56s.

Wildcards
Jo Jackson & Caitlin McClatchey - Loughborough training partners Jackson and McClatchey will be competing for England and Scotland respectively. Jackson would have been red hot favourite for this event had she not had a troubled year with illness. McClatchey is the defending champion and will have to get down to the times of 4 years ago if she will have any chance here. However, the quality is there, 4 years ago she won in 1:57.25, beating a certain Libby Lenton.

400m Free
1. Rebecca Adlington - Defending Olympic Champion added the European title in Budapest in 4:04.55. Expect the competition to be tougher in Delhi, but Adlington at her best should be good enough to win this.
2. Jazmin Carlin - Carlin burst onto the scene at the GBR vs GER duel back in February beating Adlington and Jo Jackson. Was unfortunate to miss out on the final at European's.
3. Bronte Barratt - Assuming Barratt improves upon Australian Nationals she can play a major role in this race. 4:05.50 was the world's leading time when she swam it back in March.


Wildcards
Katie Goldman & Wendy Trott - Goldman was the silver medallist at Pan Pacs finishing as the top Australian in 4:05.84. Trott had a successful season for the University of Georgia in the US. She will get a chance to showcase her Long Course metre talents.


800m Free
1. Rebecca Adlington - I'm picking Adlington for a third individual Gold medal. The 800m Free is her pet event and despite a disappointing European's, she is still ranked No.1 in the world. For Adlington the challenge will be a mental one. Having a bigger schedule than she is used to I believe will help her.
2. Katie Goldman - Goldman could get close to Adlington after showing tremendous early season form in the 800m (8:22.83 back in March). She was a little off that at Pan Pacs, but then so was Adlington at Europeans.
3.Wendy Trott - This could be Wendy Trott's breakout international competition. The South African has the advantage of training alongside Allison Schmitt in Georgia.


Wildcard
Sasha Matthews - Positive reports from the English holding camp in Doha about Matthew's performances. Trains at Nova Centurion alongside Adlington and has the potential to drop lots of time in the 800m.

1 comment:

  1. I agree about Sasha, dropped 12 seconds at nationals after no real improvemnt since we all thought she would be the Cooke in 2007, I read an article where a few of the English girls said 8.2s, somewhere there i reckon, 8.25ish would be feesable.
    I fancy Smith for a medal, 54.8 PB at nationals, Un-Tapered 54.4 at euros, 55.8ish PB last year, also i think Englands 4x100FR will go 3.37, Saunders has apparently thrown so great second 50s down, when she swam 1.59.9 in sunderland her last 50 was 29.2 i think, maybe .1, great second 50 everytime she swims, no matter the event.

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