Georgia Bags Second Gold But World Hopes Still In The Balance

By Liz Byrnes in Glasgow

Georgia Davies tried to find some hope in disappointment after she responded to her failure to qualify for the World Championships in South Korea by winning gold in the 50m backstroke at the British Swimming Championships in Glasgow.

Davies did not attempt to hide her devastation after she failed to make the selection time in the 100m backstroke on the second night at Tollcross International Swimming Centre.

The Energy Standard swimmer is a vital member of the medley relay squad and there are eight wild card selections but she knows her fate is out of her hands with head coach Bill Furniss and national performance director Chris Spice the ones who will decide whether she will make the trip.

The 28-year-old returned to the pool on Saturday to claim her second gold in 28.10secs and then revealed how she had dealt with her disappointment.

She said: “It is not possible for people to do PBs every time they swim and sometimes for unknown reasons you might have done everything right but it doesn’t always come together.

“It happens to everyone so you just have to put a positive spin on it and try and find something good out of each race and try and move forward.”

Davies, who is coached by James Gibson in Turkey, was not impressed by her time in the one-length event and will now look at her taper given she was unhappy with both her events.

“The time again was off where I was hoping and expecting to be,” said Davies.

“I raced about a month ago in Marseille without a taper and swam 27.7 there so to come to British champs and swim 0.4 slower, I’m disappointed with the time.

“I was kind of worried I hadn’t done something right for the 100 but to show that my 50 was also a bit off here maybe shows something has gone wrong with my taper because normally I can pluck some speed out of somewhere and make my 50 good even when my 100 is not.

“But that wasn’t the case so I am going to have to go back and try and work out what quite didn’t go right here and how I can improve on that.”

Of a potential trip to South Korea, she said: “I still need to keep everything crossed. I don’t know where I stand with qualifying for the team for World Champs. If I had a chance to go I would be so thrilled and I would get to try and correct the mistakes. Whatever they may be I need to suss that out first.”