Alena in Gold in Eindhoven, 22 Mar 2008

4x200m Thriller For FRA and GBR

21-Mar-2008 Craig Lord


The last race of the night was a thriller: the women's 4x200m freestyle relay won by France a hand a head of an unrested British quartet told the tale of where this event is going. It is likely to take a sub 7:50 to make the podium in Beijing, let alone what may be required for the gold.

Here are the times in Eindhoven compared to the national records of each country before the race:

France: 7:52.09; 7:55.96
Britain: 7:52.36; 7:57.02 (the silver time a Commonwealth record inside Australia's 7:54.06)
Italy: 7:55.69 ; 8:01.11
Netherlands: 7:56.14; 8:02.40

The French are now third best all-timer and the Brits fourth behind the 7:50.09 world record held by the USA since Melbourne 2007 and the 7:50.82 previous world record held by Germany.

Laure Manaudou got the French off to a 1:58.51 start (put her best time in and you have a world record), and Coralie Balmy notched up a 1:56.58 split ahead of Mylene Lazare's 1:59.39, before an unrested Alena Popchanka brought Gaul home in 1:57.61.

For Britain, Joanne Jackson kept as close as she could to Manaudou, with a 1:59.10 opener, before Melanie Marshall put in a 1:57.81, handing to teenager Ellen Gandy, with a solid 1:59.26, before Caitlin McClatchey produced the second-fastest split in the race, 1:56.19, to challenge for gold. The pool was just too short but the Brits, who flew in yesterday, will head home buoyed by their progress ahead of taper and Olympic trials the week after next.