Gibson is returning to the form he was showing five years

James Gibson set a new national record and won a bronze as Britain claimed their third medal at the European Short-Course Championships in Croatia.

After the two medals won on Thursday, the former world 50m champion was third in the 100m breaststroke, lowering the mark he set in 2003 to 57.91 seconds.

"I had some points to prove to people that I'm still good enough. I've still got what it takes," Gibson said.

Lizzie Simmonds set a national record finishing fifth in the 100m backstroke.

Double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington is no longer the European 800m freestyle record holder after Italian Alessia Filippi broke her mark in taking more than three seconds off American Kate Ziegler's world record.

Filippi finished in 8:04.53 with Coralie Balmy also dipping under the old record in a race which featured the three women who finished immediately behind Adlington in Beijing.

Gibson, the 2003 world 50m champion, added: "I didn't qualify for the Olympics this year and I had a lot of negatives to contend with.

606: DEBATE What do you think of Gibson and Britain's efforts in the pool?

"I've been taken off lottery funding because I've been told I'm not good enough for the programme.

"I want to be here for London 2012 and I'm still one of the best swimmers in the world and I'm going to maintain that."

In the men's 400m individual medley, Joe Roebuck lowered his own best time in both the heats and the final, and finished a fine fifth overall in a time of 4:07.76.

The British quartet of Emma Wilkins, Jess Sylvester, Lizzie Simmonds and Katy Sexton went 1:40.87 to finish the day with eighth place in the final of the women's 4x50m freestyle relay.

Marco Loughran was seventh in the final of the 50m backstroke, while Ben Hockin set a new British record in the heats of the men's 100m freestyle.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version