Tait Commonwealth Record, 3 Apr 2008

Tait: C'Wealth Record of 1:56.67 200m Back

03-Apr-2008 Craig Lord


Gregor Tait and James Goddard raced inside 1:57 in a grand duel in the 200m backstroke at British Olympic trials in Sheffield this morning, Tait the man with the edge and the Commonwealth record by the end. His 1:56.67 is 10th fastest all-time and took Tait, Commonwealth champion for Scotland in 2006, inside the 1:56.75 Commonwealth record established by Hayden Stoeckel (AUS) at Australian trials in Sydney last week.

British 200m medley champion yesterday, Goddard, fourth at Athens 2004 a fingernail away from the podium, was first at the 50m turn, but there was hardly anything between the two friends and rivals throughout the four-lap battle.

Goddard, coached by Ian Turner at Loughborough, surged out of the final turn but Tait, coached by Fred Vergnoux in Edinburgh, had a response and the 2004 Olympic finalists drove each other on below the 1:57 mark, Goddard stopping the clock at 1:56.82. European junior champion Marco Loughran, who has been based on the Gold Coast in Australia, is one to watch for the future. On 1:58.16 in heats and 1:58.34 for this in the final, he looked technically very good. He looked disappointed too. His time will come.

Tait's time is here and now. The 28-year-old said: 'I am quite impressed with that. I must be the oldest swimmer getting personal bests. Everybody was telling me that yesterday's (time) was a Commonwealth record [but it wasn't] so I had to make sure today's was. It is always good to have him (Goddard) there because he helps me and I help him.'

Kate Haywood, coached by Ben Titley at Loughborough, held off world 200m silver medallist Kirsty Balfour - pre-selected before trials - for the win in the 100m 1:07.84 to 1:08.05. The time was not quite at the 1:07.56 British record she had set in heats but it placed Haywood - one of the medley quartet that claimed the European title in the continent's first sub-4min effort in Eindhoven last month - on the plane to Beijing. She said: 'It was not quite as fast but it is still one of the fastest I've ever done.' On the burning issue of Leisel Jone's dominance, she added: 'We are getting there. She (Jones) is still pretty far ahead but people are going to catch her eventually.' Balfour, coached by Vergnoux, agreed: 'She hasn't got an Olympic gold yet so she'll be hungry for that but so will all the other girls and we're nopt going to make it easy for her.'