Swimming: Renwick ‘must beat record for medal’

ROBBIE Renwick believes he will have to break his own British record if he is to stand any chance of claiming a medal at the World Championships today.

Britains Robert Renwick will compete in the mens 200metre freestyle in Barcelona tonight. Picture: Getty

Renwick will swim in the 200m freestyle final at Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi alongside five-time Olympic champion Ryan Lochte and Russian Danila Izotov, the fastest qualifier from the semi-finals in 1:45.84 minutes.

Renwick’s own time of 1:46.95 in the same semi-final as Izotov was slightly slower than his effort from the heats where he touched home in an impressive morning showing of 1:46.88.

Both times, though, fall some way short of his lifetime best of 1:45.99 – set in the era of polyurethane suits at the Rome World Championships four years ago.

But Renwick, who qualified as fourth-fastest for tonight’s final, insists he can take the positives from his showing on Monday and post his quickest swim to date.

“I’m really happy with the result and I’ve got a good lane for the final and I’m really hoping the guys can pull me out in the first 100m as I just seem to be lacking a little bit there,” said Renwick.

“If I can then really work that 200m then who knows what could happen in the final but it is going to be a close race, that is for sure.

“I will need to break it [the British record] for the final, I was a bit disappointed I didn’t get it in the semis, I felt absolutely fantastic in the warm-up so I think I just over-cooked it a little bit on the third 50m. I will have to rethink my tactics for the final. The guys pushed out pretty fast and that is one thing I need to work on and I’m sure in the final I can go out a bit faster.

“I just need to rest and totally chill out and then come back for the final and then it is anyone’s race. I need to put myself in the best situation I can and try and really go for a medal.

“If I had to put a time on it there are guys who are capable of swimming 1:43 so it is really hard to predict but I just need to make sure I am in the best shape possible.”

Renwick does have previous form for delivering results on big occasion, having claimed the 200m freestyle title at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games

And Renwick admits his failure to make the 400m freestyle final on Sunday is playing a huge role in ensuring that he doesn’t miss out on a medal over half the distance.

“I felt it was important to get a good race in the morning, I was pretty disappointed with Sunday but I’ve got my confidence back up again and hopefully I can get the British record,” he added.

“There was definitely an element of frustration, I was really annoyed with my race in the 400m, I knew I could have done better but at the same time my focus was always on the 200m.”

• Britain’s athletes are funded by UK Sport as the nation’s high performance sports agency responsible for the strategic investment of £355 million of National Lottery and Exchequer funding in Olympic and Paralympic sports preparing for Rio 2016. The ambition is to win more medals than in London 2012 while building a stronger more sustainable high-performance system. www.uksport.gov.uk