Miley takes second gold as records fall in Glasgow

Published on Friday 26 June 2009 22:23

HANNAH Miley collected a second gold medal at last night's British Gas Scottish Open Championships at Tollcross Leisure Centre in Glasgow.

Winner of her favourite 400m individual medley on Thursday, the Scot continued her hectic schedule of preparation for next month's world championships by adding the 200m distance in 2min 12.52secs. She finished just under a second ahead of England's Keri-Anne Payne, an Open Water medallist from the Olympics last year.

"I'm having to pace myself, but it is nice to put in some solid swims before the worlds," said 19-year-old Miley, who has a daily diet of two events. The Garioch youngster also took part in yesterday's 200m backstroke, but pulled out of the final after qualifying in seventh place from the heats.

In one of the best races of the day, double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington just held off British rival Jo Jackson to win her top event, the 800m freestyle.

The world record holder touched in 8:16.81, exactly a second ahead of Jackson in one of the fastest 800 metres freestyle races of all time. Jackson, who was neck and neck with Adlington for 700m, smashed her own personal best by more than six seconds to finish in 8:17.81.

The dramatic climax came three months after the pair conjured up the quickest 400m race of all time at the British Championships in Sheffield. That saw Jackson break the world record, Adlington also beating the mark.

Adlington had achieved her main goal this week by winning the 200m freestyle on Thursday and securing her place in the GB relay team for the worlds. As for the longer distances, she is pacing herself to try and break her world record of 8:10.10 in Italy.

"It's great that Jo and I are pushing each other," said Adlington. "We're rivals, but also great friends. We've competed against each other for such a long time and it's brilliant that we are now both at world level."

The result ensured the mouthwatering prospect of the duo going head to head for gold at the World Championships, which start in Rome next month.

Before last night, each had qualified for the Great Britain team in their favourite events – Adlington the 800m and Jackson the 400m. But Jackson still needed a reasonably quick time to secure the second 800m spot. Adlington, 20, hinted the World Championship will see an even faster face-off. "I didn't expect to go that (quick) at all," she said. "Jo was obviously wanting to really have a good crack at this one and I knew going in that I just didn't want to get my backside handed to me, really!"

A stunned Jackson, 22, added: "Becky pulled me through that race so much that I was just trying to hold on for as long as possible. The last 100 she just went and I had nothing there. To go an 8:17 is obviously really unexpected but I'm really happy with it."

City of Glasgow's Robbie Renwick, an Olympic finalist in Beijing last year over 200m, picked up the silver medal in the 400m freestyle in 3:49.92, while Warrender's Lewis Smith was fourth as he warmed up to make his bid for a world championship place in the 400m medley today.

Iain MacMillan (Edinburgh University) added to the Scottish medal tally with a bronze in the 200m butterfly, clocking 1:59.21 in a final won by Loughborough's Joe Roebuck in 1:58.25.

Gemma Spofforth, fourth at the Olympics in the 100m backstroke, continued her impressive road to Rome by setting a British record in the 50m on Thursday and claiming another in taking the 200m title in 2:07.56.