University of Bath move paying dividends for British Swimming champion Jazz Carlin
Jazz Carlin praised her new training programme at the University of Bath after storming to 400m freestyle gold at the British Swimming Championships on Wednesday.
The Commonwealth silver-medalist, who joined the National Training Centre during the autumn, was one of three Bath swimmers to stand on the podium on day two of the championships at the London Aquatics Centre.
Calum Jarvis, pictured, won a surprise gold in the 100m freestyle and University of Bath student Jay Lelliott secured a superb silver in the 200m butterfly.
Carlin’s winning time of 4:03.51 was well inside the qualifying standard for this summer’s FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
“There are lots of things I’ve been working on in training and this is my first proper taper with my new coach, Dave McNulty, so I’m over the moon to go a 4:03,” she said.
“I’m really enjoying my new programme in Bath and my training season has gone pretty well. I’m four seconds faster than I was three years ago and this is where I want to stay, continually improving.”
Jarvis, who is also coached by McNulty and Graeme Antwhistle, admitted he was shocked to beat a quick field to the 100m freestyle title in a new Welsh record time of 48.79.
“It’s a brilliant feeling to be British champion over the 100m,” said Jarvis, who beat Plymouth Lea’s Ben Proud by just four-hundredths of a second.
“It was such a strong field and going in I knew that Ben was one to watch. I knew he was going to go out hard but I was confident in my ability to come back on the second length.”
Sports Performance student Lelliott, part of Mark Skimming’s performance group at the University of Bath, impressed in his second final of the week as he took 200m butterfly silver in 1:58.04.
“It was a good race and I was happy with how I swam it,” said Lelliott, who is on the shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year at the University of Bath’s Blues Awards.
“I have been going quickly in training and based on times I have been producing, I thought I had the potential to go much faster, but it just wasn’t to be on the night.”
University of Stirling swimmer Cameron Brodie took gold, with fellow Scot Lewis Smith claiming bronze.
Lewis Coleman – who has switched to the University of Bath from City of Sheffield this season – was fifth in the 200m individual medley final in 2:00.80.
The championships continue until Saturday. Chris Walker-Hebborn and Siobhan-Marie O’Connor both won gold on the opening day – read the report here.
