British Swimming Championships 2010
Dates: 29 March-3 April Venue: Ponds Forge, Sheffield
Coverage:Listen live on BBC 5 live sports extra, watch daily highlights on this website Rejuvenated Adlington wins 800m Rebecca Adlington set the world's fastest time this year as she powered her way to clinch the 800m title at the British Championships in Sheffield. The double Olympic champion led from 100m out, finishing in a time of eight minutes 21.95 seconds - almost 13 secs ahead of second-placed Sasha Matthews. World silver medallist Jo Jackson was missing because of an asthma problem. Adam Brown won the men's 100m freestyle final, while Fran Halsall added the 100m butterfly title to her name. The 19-year-old world silver medallist, who endured a "nightmare" day on Wednesday despite retaining her 100m freestyle title, suffered another setback when she tore her suit before final. But after digging around for a spare costume, the Loughborough ITC swimmer led from start to finish to record a personal best of 57.83 secs - the second best time of the year. Ellen Gandy, last year's champion, touched almost a second behind Halsall, with Jemma Lowe in third.  | For me the 800 is the event that I love so it was really good to get back into that and feel just strong at it |
Asked about her suit tearing, Halsall, who lost her goggles two days before, said: "When I put it on earlier I tried to get it over my shoulders and my back and it just ripped. "I think my boobs are a little bit bigger than they should be at the moment or something. "I had to get to the toilet and put a different one on when everyone else was in the call room." However, the main focus of Thursday's races was the women's 800m, where Jazmin Carlin - who beat Adlington in the 200m and 800m distances at the Great Britain v Germany meet in Swansea last month - lined up alongside the Beijing gold medallist. But, as in the 200m freestyle final on Monday, Adlington took total control of the race, dictating the tempo as the rest of the field struggled to keep up with her. Swansea swimmer Carlin finished almost 14 seconds behind Adlington while Olympic 10km open water bronze medallist Cassie Patten finished fifth. The field had been weakened by the withdrawal of Jackson, who has been suffered respiratory illnesses in recent months and had struggled with her breathing after finishing third in Monday's 200m race.  Ajulu-Bushell was born in England to an English mother |
However, Adlington is confident she is back on track after missing out on a medal in the 800m at the World Championships in Rome last year. "For me the 800 is the event that I love so it was really good to get back into that and feel just strong at it," said the 21-year-old. "At the Worlds I just didn't. I hadn't done enough work and that's why I got in and couldn't do it, whereas it's nice to feel under control in the 800 rather than feel absolutely dead and not be able to have anything left. "It's really nice to get back to what I'm feeling on the 800. It felt really smooth. Normally I get really bad stomach cramps around 4-500. "It didn't feel like that as much: I knew I was winning the race so it was just a case of keep it under control, don't try to bash at it or get too excited." Brown clinched the men's 100m freestyle title in 49.64 secs ahead of Grant Turner and Ross Davenport. European junior champion Roberto Pavoni became the fastest 400m individual medley racer in the world this year with a surprise win in four minutes 14.55secs, finishing ahead of Joe Roebuck and Commonwealth record holder Thomas Haffield. Fifty-metre backstroke world record holder Liam Tancock cruised into the 100m finals, tearing the field apart for 75m before relaxing in the final 25m to finish in a time of 54.84 secs. Darren Mew was fastest in the 50m breaststroke while Michael Rock heads the 100m butterfly field for Friday's finals. Achieng Ajulu-Bushell once again showed why she is one of the hottest properties in British swimming with yet another accomplished performance to win her women's 100m breaststroke semi-final. The 16-year-old, who qualifies for Great Britain on 1 August having representing Kenya at the World Championships, finished almost a second ahead of Kate Haywood in a time of one minute 9.95 secs. However, Beijing Olympic open water silver medallist David Davies withdrew from the 1500m freestyle because of exhaustion. His absence means he will miss the World Open Water Championship and the European Championships. However, he the 25-year-old has already been pre-selected for the Wales team for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The qualifying procedure for the Commonwealths differs according to nation. Swimmers winning finals in Sheffield will almost certainly appear at October's Games in Delhi, but the selection process for the Commonwealths will be completed by the European Championships and individual English, Welsh and Scottish national trials at different dates in the summer. A separate process applies in Northern Ireland.
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