Melbourne 2006 - Day 3

[Chris]

Next lot of races:

23:00 - Women's 800m Freestyle
23:24 - Men's 100m Freestyle
23:45 - Women's 100m Butterfly
00:01 - Men's 200m Backstroke
00:13 - Women's 200m Breaststroke
00:24 - Men's 50m EAD Freestyle

[Bazza]

Can I just get in an early tip for Chris Cook in the 100 breaststroke final later (well tomorrow morning our time!). I thought he looked amazing in the semi, everything going in the forward direction, getting great distance on each stroke but at speed and a strong leg kick. Fingers crossed for a 59!

[Chris]

Womens 800m Freestyle

Heat 1 - Won by Wendy Trott of South Africa in 8.39.21, Keri-Anne Payne 4th in 8.47.62, Jazmin Carlin 5th in 8.55.88, Olivia Rawlinson 7th in 9.41.59

Heat 2 - Won by Rebecca Cooke in 8.38.18

[Sush]

Mclatchy pulled out?

[Chris]

Mclatchy pulled out?

Yep.

[Chris]

Mens 100m Freestyle

Heat 1 - Won by Daniel Bego of Malaysia in 52.45

Heat 2 - Won by Ian Hubert in 54.40 :D, Ben Lowndes 2nd in 54.84 :D

Heat 3 - Won by Liam Du Feu in 54.02, Jeremy Osborne 2nd in 54.55 :D

Heat 4 - Won by Simon Burnett in 50.42, Anthony Howard 5th in 51.71, Alexis Militis 7th in 52.94

Heat 5 - Won by Brent Haydn of Canada in 49.98, Chris Cozens 4th in 50.73, Craig Houston 5th in 51.11

Heat 6 - Won by Eamon Sullivan of Australia in 49.94

[Chris]

Womens 100m Butterfly

Heat 1 - Won by Gail Strobridge in 1.05.83 :D, Emily Crookall-Nixon 2nd in 1.06.12

Heat 2 - Won by Alice Mills of Australia in 1.00.18, Stephanie Hill 3rd in 1.03.22

Heat 3 - Won by Libby Lenton of Australia in 59.43, Jemma Lowe 3rd in 1.00.36, Rosalind Brett 4th in 1.00.59

Heat 4 - Won by Jessica Schipper of Australia in 58.48 NEW GAMES RECORD, Terri Dunning 2nd in 59.56, Hannah Miley 7th in 1.04.31

[Chris]

Mens 200m Backstroke

Heat 1 - Won by Desmond Strelzow of Canada in 2.02.58, Ian Powell 3rd in 2.06.02, Dane Harrop 6th in 2.11.59

Heat 2 - Won by Gregor Tait in 2.01.85, Thomas Haffield 4th in 2.03.77, Thomas Hollingsworth 6th in 2.10.75

[Chris]

Ian Powell into the final of the 200m back in 7th place!!!!

[Chris]

Womens 200m Breaststroke

Heat 1 - Won by Kirsty Balfour in 2.26.18

Heat 2 - Won by Leisel Jones of Australia in 2.29.96, Kerry Buchan 5th in 2.33.94, Gail Strobridge 6th in 2.44.01

[colonelhall]

Hang on a mo! Am I reading thi right? Only two heats of the 200m back. No English, no Australians. 2.09 qualifies for the final.
I've obviously had enough. I'm off to bed.

Good night All

The Colonel

[Chris]

Mens 50m Freestyle EAD

Heat 1 - Won by Matthew Cowdrey of Australia in 26.16, David Roberts 3rd in 29.20

Heat 2 - Won by Daniel Sharp of New Zealand in 25.58, Matthew Walker 3rd in 29.03, Jonathan Cummings 7th in 36.75

Heat 3 - Won by Benoit Huot of Canada in 25.08

[Chris]

Highlights for this session for me ...

Kirsty Balfour's 200m breast was excellent.
Ian Powell into another final (of course!)
Jessica Schipper's 100 fly.

[chlorine_babe]

how about Gail's semi

[Chris]

how about Gail's semi

Surely it's straight into a final now?

Edit: 100 fly? Silly me .....

[lane4]

Some events here (like the men's 200 back) have really been ruined by England and Australia not entering anyone. 2:09 to make the final is nothing short of embarrassing for an international meet.

Excellent 200 breast from Balfour this morning and a great 100 fly from Jemma Lowe.

[chris_lamb]

It would also be fair to mention England's synchronised swimmers - Jemma Randall is currently 2nd in the solo competition and also third in the duets along with Olivia Allison.

[NotVeryFast]

OMG England Gold, Scotland Silver, Australia Bronze in the Mens 4x200 free relay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Katie]

That men's relay WAS AWESOME!!! Best race I have EVER seen!!!!

[mad4it]

How close was that!! You couldn't have called that race at any point, great swimming from the British lads!

Also excellent from Gregor Tait, Chris Cook & James Gibson, Kirsty Balfour, Fran Halsall and Simon Burnett - looking forward to the final tomorrow now!

[matt]

That men's relay WAS AWESOME!!! Best race I have EVER seen!!!!

Yeah just seen that on BBC, really good race. On the last turn I thought Scotland would be able to keep it.

Quite a few people I know have been watching the swimming and taking note of it. I think interest may be on the rise slightly here, my sister definitely has gotten in to it, waking up for the start etc.

[Katie]

Slightly confused, which final are you looking forward to Mad4it? I think I am going to have to rest for a while to get over that relay. So exciting!

[matt]

Deep breathes, slow deep breathes and relax

[Chris]

Relay was fantastic. 7th place for Ian in the 200 back (albeit slower than the heats) and I missed everything else coz me sleep pattern has been shot to **** by the strange hours I'm keeping at the moment!

Sky+ will have to fill me in on the missing details!!

[mad4it]

Slightly confused, which final are you looking forward to Mad4it? I think I am going to have to rest for a while to get over that relay. So exciting!
The Mens 100m Freestyle! So close from 1st-8th! Even though I'm Scottish through and through I'm still rooting for the English guys, hopefully Simon can win it, even if he does have a very random accent at the moment!!

Did anyone think that after Day 3 of the Games the swimming medal table would look like this:

1 Australia 8 9 9 = 26
2 England 4 4 3 = 11
3= Scotland 3 2 0 = 6
3= South Africa 3 1 3 = 7
5 New Zealand 1 0 2 = 3
6= Canada 0 3 2 = 5
6= Wales 0 0 1 = 1

:D :D

[mad4it]

Oh you've gotta love the support ScottishSwimming are showing: (taken from www.scottishswimming.com)

18/03/2006 Medal haul continues for Scottish Swimmers
Gregor Tait wins Gold in the Men's 200m backstroke final.

Kirsty Balfour takes Silver in Women's 200m breaststroke final.

Men's 4 x 200m Freestlye squad takes Silver in final.

[irish]

What a great day for British swimming.Well done to Tom Haffield, great pb in the 200m back:speechles :)

[Mac]

so many great swims today from the home nation teams but the best must surely be Kirsty Balfours 200 br - to take that much off of a BR is phenomenal. Also, Terri Dunnings 100 fly was a real step up for her and an excellent BR.

The splits for the Scots 4 x 200m relay were v.impressive - all on 1:48. I was a bit surprised that the Canadians were not a bit closer and they were unlucky to just miss out in both the mens and the womens relays. Takeover of the day - Dean Millwain gave away just 0.09! It looked v. close on the TV but may well have made the difference betwen gold and silver in the end!

[Sush]

I missed the mens 4x200 relay! With work and counties, had to settle with taping it, but damn tape ran out!!!!! :cry: sounds like a great race though!

Been another v succesful day!

[Chris]

I missed the mens 4x200 relay! With work and counties, had to settle with taping it, but damn tape ran out!!!!! :cry: sounds like a great race though!

Been another v succesful day!

Go here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/commonwealth_games/video_and_audio/default.stm

And scroll down a bit :thumb:

[Sush]

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D Wow!!!!!!!!!! How exciting! What an amazing race!

Thanks for that Chris!!!!! :angel: