One Done

My first day of racing here in Port Elizabeth has come and gone and I’m going to call it successful. I raced the 100 Breaststroke heats this morning and put together a well controlled morning swim in which I finished the race in 1.03.65. The time was good enough to give me a second seed for the semi finals this evening.

Then, the unfortunate disqualification of Neil Versfeld, a South African Olympian who was seeded ahead of me bumped me up into the top spot for tonight’s semi final. Seeded two one hundredths of a second behind me however, was World Champion, World Record Holder and Olympian, Cameron VD Burgh, and it was obvious he shut it down in the last 50 of his prelims swim this morning so I knew he was going to be fast tonight.

Cameron should his class this evening in the first semi final when he stopped the clock at 1.01.54, qualifying him for World Championships in Shanghai later this year. I was up next in the second semi final. As there is no coverage of the meet, below is a video of how my race played out. I’m the very, very pasty one in the black cap in lane 4.

Any one with any sort of eye for swimming will be able to point out the numerous technical areas in which I can improve. If this trip to South Africa has shown me anything it is that I can make some big gains in minor details of my racing. After watching this video I’m convinced I stopped swimming 5m from the finish and attempted to glide into the wall. Not recommended if looking to swim fast! I am incredibly happy with the time however and know that there will be more to come tomorrow night. How fast can I go, I don’t know? We’ll find out though.

Thank you to everyone for all of your support. I have been overwhelmed by the number of emails and messages I have received over the last two days. Thank you!

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