Forrester At The Dolphin Medley Double In Stroke-For-Stroke With Canny & Smith
Australian now has three golds and a bronze to her credit as the best all-rounder in town on Day 5 at the Commonwealth Games
Jenna Forrester has turned into a golden girl for Australia at these Commonwealth Games, her tally of solo honours raised to three golds and a bronze after she added the 200m medley title to the 400IM crown she claimed just 24 hours earlier.
Sharing the podium with her once again was England's 16-year-old Amelie Smith, who led the race by a whisker at the last turn and then was one of three, with Forrester and South African Aimee Canny, who battled stroke for stroke down the homecoming length in freestyle, the race over with just 0.37sec between gold and bronze:
Victory made Forrester the first Australian champion in the event since 2010, when Alicia Coutts lifted the crown as the sixth Dolphin to do so since 1970.
After a 4:33 career high for silver adrift a 4:31 pb for Forrester in the 400m yesterday, Smith joined the sub-2:10 club in the 200m with yet another best time just two weeks after lifting the European junior 400 crown in Munich, where she also celebrated a number of new best times.
All of which prompted plaudits for young Smith from Baroness Davies, otherwise known as Sharron Davies, the 1978 200IM and 400IM champion for England at the age of 15 two years out from becoming the first swimmer home in the Olympic final of the 400m in Moscow who would not end up being tainted by GDR doping, official gold denied her by drugs.
Today, she said of Amelie:
"It’s really exciting to see her swimming so well. She swam beautifully, a really mature race. She has a strong breaststroke and, because the breaststroke leg is the slowest, you have more opportunity to move up through the field. We have had a wonderful tradition in the medley. I like the fact she is getting on with it in Kent, getting on with her education, quietly working hard and exposing herself to bigger events. She seems to have a calm confidence and is just doing the job."
Davies added a note on a talking point.in the UK, where the Games cannot be seen free to view on television: n"I’m really disappointed it’s not on the BBC and that they are not covering more swimming. It is an important sport, one that saves lives, and has massive participation. I see the BBC’s job as showing an array of sports. "
