.jpg)
By Thomas Willdridge
SWANSEA, Great Britain, February 21. THE final day of the Britain vs. Germany Duel in the Pool saw a lively crowd in expectant mood with Britain holding a dominant 102-56 lead at the long course meter event. Great Britain finished the event with a 207-109 triumph over Germany.
Britain's women showed their strength in depth on day one leading the German women 63-16 whilst the men's competition is evenly poised going into the last day with the German men leading the British men 40-39. The highlight of the first day saw Jazz Carlin, 19, stun both Jo Jackson and Rebecca Adlington to take victory in the 400 meter freestyle. Carlin and Jackson faced each other again in the 200 meter freestyle on day two.
Women 50 Meter Butterfly
Francesca Halsall gave Britain a great start to day two leading from the start to win in an impressive time of 26.92. Gremany's Lisa Vitting took second in 27.79 with Britain's Louise Pate in third place with a time of 28.00. Halsall, 19, recently returned from a training camp in Florida and is in fine form at this competition.
Points after Event 19
GBR – 108
GER – 59
Men 50 Meter Butterfly
Germany's Steffen Deibler showed his quality in the 50 meter butterfly pulling away from the field in the final 25 meters to win in a time of 23.87. Yesterday's 100 meter butterfly winner Antony James took second in 24.58, with the fast-starting Johannes Dietrich dropping back to third 25.01
Points after Event 20
GBR – 111
GER – 65
Women 800 Meter Freestyle
Olympic champion and world record holder Rebecca Adlington had no trouble getting back to winning ways after yesterday's third-place finish in the 400 meter freestyle. Adlington took control of the event at the 200-meter mark to comfortably win in a time of 8:42.46. Yesterday's 400 meter IM winner Aimee Wilmott (8:46.78) made it a 1-2 for Britain and Germany's only competitor in the race Isabell Haerle (8:48.10) came home third.
Points after Event 21
GBR – 119
GER – 66
Men 1500 Meter Freestyle
Only three men competed in the men's 1500m freestyle. The win went to reigning Commonwealth champion David Davies, who took over at the 300-meter mark before finally dropping Germany's Jan Wolfgarten and Britain's Daniel Fogg at the 600-meter mark to win in a time of 15:34.81. Fogg took second in 15:44.45 with Wolfgarten taking the final point in a time of 15:52.29.
Points after Event 22
GBR – 127
GER – 67
Women 50 Meter Freestyle
Fran Halsall returned less than 30 minutes after her 50 meter butterfly victory to take victory in the 50 meter freestyle. Halsall stayed under visibly longer than her competitors at the start, and faced a strong challenge from Germany's Dorothea Brandt with the two women level with 20 meters to go. Halsall finished the stronger of the two and won in a time of 25.27, Brandt took second in 25.45 with Britain's Amy Smith in third in a time of 25.93
Points after Event 23
GBR – 133
GER – 70
Men 50 Meter Freestyle
Germany's Steffen Deibler joined Halsall recording a 50 meter butterfly and freestyle double of his own. Deibler pulled away from the field at the finish to win in 22.76, Britain's Grant Turner took second place in 22.99 with Christoph Fildebrandt taking the final point in a time of 23.38.
Points after Event 24
GBR – 136
GER – 76
Women 100 Meter Backstroke
Britain's Lizzie Simmonds continued her unbeaten record at the meet winning the 100 meter backstroke in an impressive 1:00.10. Teammate Georgia Davies was second in 1:03.72, and Germany's talented youngster Alexandra Wenk, 15, finished third in 1:04.20.
Simmonds later revealed that the Commonwealth Games were her main target this year but did not rule out the possibility of swimming at the European Championships.
Points after Event 25
GBR – 144
GER – 77
Men 100 Meter Backstroke
Great Britain took day two's first 1-2-3 finish. World record holder in the 50 meter backstroke Liam Tancock used his trademark first 50 meter speed to gain an insurmountable advantage over the rest of the field turning in 26.71. He continued to pull away from the field and finished in a time of 55.30. Britain's Christopher Walker-Hebborn (56.80) and Matt Clay (57.03) completed the clean sweep of the points.
Points after Event 26
GBR – 153
GER – 77
Women 200 Meter Freestyle
The women's 200 meter freestyle saw yesterday's winner of the 400 meter freestyle Jazz Carlin go up against Commonwealth record holder in this event Jo Jackson. Jackson, 23, started the stronger of the two leading the race at the 100-meter mark but it was Carlin who used a strong second half of the race to win in 1:59.40. Jackson had to settle for second again at this competition finishing second in a time of 2:00.48. One of Germany's rising stars Silke Lippok, 15, finished third in a time of 2:02.13.
Carlin turned at the 100-meter mark in 59.49 but came back in an impressive 59.91. After the race, Carlin stated that her training is aimed specifically at finishing races strongly and that she still needs a lot of work on her starts and turns, and opinion repeated by her coach Bud McAllister.
Points after Event 27
GBR – 161
GER – 78
Men 200 Meter Freestyle
Germany's Paul Biedermann and Britain's Ross Davenport went head-to-head in an exciting men's 200 meter freestyle. Davenport took the race out in the first half leading at the 100-meter mark in a time of 52.69 with Biedermann on the British number one's shoulder turning in 53.01. Biedermann pulled alongside Davenport after the turn and led into the final turn and impressed again using a strong leg kick in the final 50 meters winning in a time of 1:47.56. Davenport finished in a strong 1:49.24 with Britain's Robbie Renwick back in third in 1:52.48.
Points after Event 28
GBR – 165
GER – 83
Women 100 Meter Breaststroke
Germany's Caroline Ruhnau looked strong as she cruised to victory in the 100 meter breaststroke in a time of 1:10.52. Britain's Lowri Tynan was second in 1:11.04 and teammate Georgia Holderness third in 1:11.49.
Points after Event 29
GBR – 169
GER – 88
Men 100 Meter Breaststroke
Britain's Michael Jamieson continued his impressive form at this meet beating a strong field in the 100 meter breaststroke. Germany's Hendrik Feldwehr led at the half way point with a time of 29.29, but Jamieson used a strong second half to finish first in 1:02.32. British record holder in the 50 meter breaststroke Darren Mew finished second in 1:02.94 and Feldwehr finished third in 1:03.09.
Points after Event 30
GBR – 177
GER – 89
Women 200 Meter Butterfly
Britain's Jessica Dicksons controlled the race in the women's 200 meter butterfly winning in a time of 2:12.42. Emma Smithurst ensured a 1-2 finish for Britain finishing in 2:13.82. Germany's Franziska Hentke took third in 2:15.96
Points after Event 31
GBR – 185
GER – 90
Men 200 Meter Butterfly
An exciting men's 200 meter butterfly saw a tremendous fight between Germany's Toni Embacher and Britain's Joe Roebuck. Having been overhauled on the final length of yesterday's 400 meter IM, Roebuck made sure he did enough to win in a time of 2:00.60. Embacher finished second in 2:01.76 with his teammate Felix Wolf taking third in 2:05.42.
Points after Event 32
GBR – 190
GER – 94
Women 200 Meter IM
Young talent from both teams was on display in the women's 200 meter IM with Theresa Michalak, 17, taking an impressive victory in 2:17.09. Aimee Willmott, 16, returned to the pool after taking second in the 800 meter freestyle earlier this morning with a gutsy second-place finish in 2:18.09. Germany's Alexandra Wenk, 15, was third in 2:19.93.
Points after Event 33
GBR – 193
GER – 100
Men 200 Meter IM
German record holder Yannick Lebherz saw off a strong challenge from teammate Dimitri Colupaev to win in 2:03.53. Colupaev appeared to go into the finish level with Lebherz, but was touched out at the wall and finished in 2:04.05. Tim Wallburger provided the German team with some late consolation, completing the 1-2-3 finish with a time of 2:06.34.
Points after Event 34
GBR – 193
GER – 109
Women 400 Meter Freestyle Relay
Fran Halsall led off the British team to an impressive lead touching in 54.34. Backstroke star Elizabeth Simmonds (56.94), Katherine Wyld (56.87) and Amy Smith (55.31) completed the victory. Britain finished in 3:43.60 ahead of a strong finishing German team who took second in 3:45.07.
Points after Event 35
GBR – 200
GER – 109
Men 400 Meter Freestye Relay
The men's point standing heading into the final event saw Britain with a 77-70 lead with seven points available for the relay winner. The race looked close on paper and it provided a fitting ending to an exciting event. At the 200-meter mark the teams were split by just 0.02 seconds with Britain leading 1:40.68 to 1:40.70.
A grandstand finish was set up between two of the stars of European swimming, Liam Tancock and Paul Biedermann. Tancock took a 0.64 second advantage over Biedermann into the final leg, but with 50 meters to go it looked like Biedermann would be able to use his trademark strong finish to overhaul Tancock on the final length. However, Tancock brought the crowd to its feet with an incredible turn and underwater kick using the full 15 meter allowance. Biedermann couldn't reply and Britain won the final event of the night 3:19.89 to 3:20.83.
Final Points after Day Two
GBR – 202
GER – 109
German head coach Dirk Lange revealed during the competition that Germany will face Great Britain again in 2011 to be held in Germany with another duel set up for 2012 in London.
Both teams were clearly in different stages of their seasons with the British Commonwealth trials coming up in March and the German trials for the European Championship not until July. Both coaches praised the staging of the meet and the electric atmosphere provided by the crowd. Great Britain head coach Dennis Pursley expects a stronger German challenge next year and was satisfied with his own swimmer's performances, reserving special praise for youngsters Aimee Willmott and Jazz Carlin.
Thomas Willdridge is a former Great Britain junior team member swimmer for Nova Centurion. He owns and operates the Speed Endurance swimming blog.
