Daniel Jervis And Kathryn Greenslade Take Gold Before Gold Coast

By Rob Cole

Welsh swimmers Daniel Jervis and Kathryn Greenslade gave themselves a big boost ahead of the Commonwealth Games as they picked up British titles on the opening day of the Edinburgh International meeting.

Jervis, a bronze medalist at the last Games in Glasgow, went into the 1500 metres as the fastest in the field and was too good for everyone as he won the title in commanding fashion, leaving Spanish Olympian Miguel Duran trailing almost 14 seconds in his wake. Jervis took gold in 15:01.87.

The 22-year-old took the bronze in 2014 in a then life time best of 14:55.33, but improved that time in winning the British title in Sheffield last year in 14:51.48.

He also struck gold over 800 metres at that event and has competed for Britain at both the European and World Championships since his medal-winning exploits four years ago.

University of Edinburgh swimmer Greenslade, 20, was the only one to dip under the two minute barrier in the heats as she marked herself out as the one to beat. She clocked 1:59.65 in her heat and then went even faster in the final to win in 1:58.53 from Spain’s Miereia Belmonte.

There was also a third gold medal for Wales in the 100 metres  butterfly as City of Cardiff’s Harriet Jones came out on top in an all-Welsh battle as she held off reigning champion Alys Thomas, of Swansea Aquatics. Jones, who wasn’t picked for the Gold Coast won in a personal best time of 58.85 sec.

Thomas, who will be heading to her third Games next month, was second to the turn behind Edinburgh University’s Tain Bruce, but Jones powered past both of them in the home straight to win the gold with Thomas second.

There was a silver medal for Cardiff’s Xavier Castelli in the men’s 50 metre backstroke with a lifetime best performance.