Swimming: Silver for Michael Jamieson

MICHAEL Jamieson will fly home from Denmark today pleased with another silver medal at a major championships, and two British records in the space of four days.

Hungarys Daniel Gyurta celebrates another gold medal. Picture: Getty

But he may also be giving some serious thought to how he is going to dislodge the world’s No 1 breaststroker from his pedestal.

Daniel Gyurta pipped Jamieson to 200 metres gold at the European Short-Course Championships last night, just as he did last year at both the World Short-Course Championships and the Olympic Games.

The result of the Hungarian’s relentless winning run is that Scotland’s top swimmer is still waiting to won his first major international title, and while Gyurta will not be around to ruin the party at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Jamieson’s native Glasgow, he will still stand in the Scot’s way at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Jamieson yearns desperately to be the best in the world but Gyurta has possession of that title and is showing no sign of relinquishing his grip.

Jemma Lowe (silver), Aimee Willmott and Chris Walker-Hebborn (both bronze) also added to the British medal haul last night as the team finished with eight medals. But Jamieson’s latest ding-song battle with Gyurta was the highlight of the closing session.

The Bath-based 25-year-old knocked more than a second off his British record in a race that he led with two laps to go, before being reined in. Gyurta ultimately took the touch on 2mins 0.72secs with Jamieson coming home in 2:01.43 and Germany’s Marco Koch third in 2:01.62. Jamieson’s Bath ITC stablemate Andrew Willis also ducked under the Scot’s former British record as he finished fourth in an English record 2:02.99.

Jamieson’s championships served as an ideal tune-up for next weekend’s Europe v USA ‘Duel in the Pool’ at Tollcross Park, but Hannah Miley’s form is more of a concern. The reigning world short-course champion in the 400m individual medley, Miley could only finish fourth in last night’s European final and will come home from Herning in the unusual position of having no medals to declare.

Not only that but in both medley events Miley, who has led the way in British medley swimming for years, was beaten by a compatriot. It was Willmott who continued her record-breaking form to beat her to bronze in the 400m.

The Middlesbrough swimmer set an English record 4:25.37 to reach the podium behind Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia (4:21.23) and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu (4:24.69), with Miley fourth home in 4:28.56.

Having won 200m butterfly bronze earlier in the meet, Lowe claimed a second medal with silver in the 100m butterfly. She lowered her Welsh record to reach the podium with a 56.32 effort behind Sweden’s world champion Sarah Sjostrom (55.78). Walker-Hebborn sealed the first major short-course medal of his career with 100m backstroke bronze.