Gilchrist win Gold on road to Beijing, 4 Apr 2008

MORE SWIMMERS MEET NOMINATION CRITERIA
04 Apr 2008

The fifth day of the British Swimming Championships saw more British Swimmers meet the criteria to be nominated to Team GB for this year’s Olympic Games.

In order to make the Olympic team, athletes must finish in first or second place in the final of their event and have met the FINA ‘A’ time for that event in the heat.

City of Edinburgh swimmer Kris Gilchrist showed his strength in the Breaststroke events after claiming victory in the 200m Breaststroke final this morning.

Gilchrist touched first at the 50m mark and entered 100m looking strong. James Kirton (City of Sheffield) received rapturous applause from his home crowd as he began closing the gap on the World Championship swimmer through the second 50m.

As Gilchrist entered the penultimate lap he used his power to retain his lead and pulled even further ahead in the final 50m. Gilchrist touched in 2:10.44 to take the national title and the gold medal.

“I felt pretty disappointed with the time but delighted to have qualified,” he said. “I felt really controlled last night but it wasn’t as smooth this morning. But I am sure it’ll be better in time for August. My main aim here was to make it to Beijing, the event is moving on all the time and I will have to move with that.”