Super Siobhan wins brace of silvers on day one of Glasgow Games
Eighteen-year-old Siobhan-Marie O’Connor became the first University of Bath based athlete to win a medal at the Glasgow 2014 Games when she struck silver in the 200m freestyle tonight.
O’Connor, who trains at British Swimming’s National Training Centre at the University of Bath, came home second with a time of 1:55.82, just behind Australia’s Emma McKeon, who took gold in 1:55.57.
O’Connor then wrapped up the evening in the pool by helping the England’s 4x100m freestyle relay quartet to another silver in 3:35.72, a time that was only bettered by the Australians with a world record of 3:30.98. Earlier in the day fellow Bath NTC swimmer Amelia Maughan helped England qualify for the final by swimming a leg in the heats.
Afterwards a delighted O’Connor said: “It was a pretty busy evening but I’m really happy with how it went.
“The first day was always going to be massively important to me and I’m glad to have got it off to a good start.”
Biggest battle of the night
The 200m breaststroke final was always going to be one of the biggest battles of the night. A Scot did take gold, but not Bath-based Michael Jamieson.
The University of Bath Sports Performance graduate was edged into second place by fellow Scot Ross Murdoch, who set a British record of 2:07.30.
Jamieson’s time of 2:08.40 saw him repeat his silver in Delhi four years ago.
England’s Andrew Willis, a Chemical Engineering student at the University, won bronze in 2:09.87.
Afterwards Willis said: “It was a really good race. It wasn’t quite the time I wanted but I’m on the podium and that’s a step in the right direction.”
Lynne Hutchison and the England rhythmic gymnastics team just missed out on the medals in the team all-around event.
Hutchison, London ended the evening with a stunning ribbon routine, but England finished in fourth place.
Hutchison booked a place in tomorrow’s individual all-around final.
University of Bath Sports Performance graduate Aaron Harris couldn’t match the pace of England team-mates Alistair and Jonny Brownlee in the men’s triathlon, but then, who could?
He came home in a creditable sixth place on his Commonwealth Games debut.
More than 70 athletes with University of Bath links have been selected to compete at Glasgow 2014. They will represent 10 countries and compete in 11 sports, so be sure to find out when they’re in action and keep track of the results.
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