Narrow medal miss for Jay Lelliott as tennis ace Luke Johnson makes strong start to World Uni Games
University of Bath swimmer Jay Lelliott narrowly fell short of a second medal on day four of the World University Games in Taipei.
The Sports Performance graduate, an ambassador for Team Bath partners MJ Church and coached by Mark Skimming in the London 2012 Legacy Pool, was involved in a three-way battle for bronze throughout a gruelling 1,500m freestyle final on Tuesday.
There was nothing to choose between Lelliott, Hungary’s Gergely Gyurta and Shingo Nayaka of Japan with 150m to go but Gyurta was able to make a decisive kick and went on to take the bronze behind Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri, who smashed the Universiade record, and Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk.
Lelliott, who won 400m freestyle silver on Sunday, touched the wall in fifth in 15:06.51. He will be back in the pool on Wednesday for the 800m freestyle heats, looking to book his place in a third final of the week.
Elsewhere, Team Bath MCTA Tennis player Luke Johnson made a fine start to his men’s doubles campaign with Jack Findel-Hawkins as they beat the Thai pairing of Nuttanon Kadchapanan and Patcharapol Kawin 6-2 6-4. They will face Poland’s Kamil Jerzy Gajewski and Szymon Jan Walkow in the second round.
#WUGSGB: Jack Findel-Hawkins & @luke_johnson94 win first round doubles with an ace 💥
6️⃣-2️⃣
6️⃣-4️⃣#SUTaipei2017 🎾 pic.twitter.com/wQxGi8Y65J— BUCS (@BUCSsport) August 22, 2017
Johnson, who moved his training base to the University of Bath after graduating from Clemson University in the United States last year, has also been selected in the British mixed doubles team with Olivia Nicholls.
Sport & Social Sciences student Emily Donovan and her fellow GB women’s team-mates suffered a hard-fought 2-1 defeat to the Russian Federation in their second match of the tournament.
Donovan came off the bench in the 55th minute, moments after Margarita Chernomyrdina had given Russia the lead, and helped Georgia Evans get Britain back on level terms. However, needing the win to progress, they were caught out again 15 minutes from time as substitute Ekaterina Pantiukhina grabbed the winner.
That result means Britain finish bottom of Group D and miss out on a place in the quarter-finals.
The athletics competition begins on Wednesday with the first track final, the women’s 10,000m, featuring Sport & Social Sciences student Jenny Nesbitt.
Supported by a Trendell Sports Scholarship, Nesbitt will be representing Britain at her second major event of the summer after finishing a fine sixth in last month’s European U23 Championships. The final will take place at 12.45pm BST.
Sport & Social Sciences graduate Jacob Paul starts his 400m hurdles campaign on Thursday morning.
The World University Games is the world’s second-largest multi-sport event, after the Olympic Games, and the University of Bath is represented by seven athletes – Lelliott and Anna Hopkin (swimming); Emma Hurst and Johnson (tennis); Nesbitt and Paul (athletics); and Donovan (football) – plus four support staff – coaches Mark Skimming (swimming), Barry Scollo (tennis), Corinne Yorston (football, strength & conditioning) and Jack Dawkins (physio) – at this year’s event.
