Macinnes Preaches What She Practiced For, Gold the Reward
Women's 200m butterfly: Britain had never won the title before ... Keanna Macinnes is that pioneer ... and then, she went and landed a second gold, with her GBR medley relay teammates
The courage (and the long-term prep underpinning it) of Keanna Macinnes paid off handsomely. It started with attacking the 200m butterfly from the front and being prepared to test just how far the hard work at Stirling with coaches Ben Higson and Bray Hay would take her.
Far enough for two golds, was the answer. In the 'fly final, Macinnes, the Commonwealth silver medalist for Scotland last month, stole a march on her rivals with a 27.87 opener, as the sole sub-28er, and then turned at half-way as the sole sub-minute splitter in the field, in 59.67.
The rival who would join her on the podium for silver - Denmark's Helena Rosendahl Bach, was never far away, and by drawing out all those following her, Macinnes ensured that if the piano should fall on her back in the hunt for home, it might fall on their's too.
It sort of turned out like that, without much sign of a piano, though, as Macinnes piled into the end wall in a Scottish record of 2:05.90 to become the first British winner of the crown back to the event's introduction in 1970.
Bach chased her down and narrowed the gap by 0.19sec to the end wall, leaving her 0.24 shy of gold but able to celebrate a fine silver on 2:06.14, the bronze to Laura Cabanes of Spain in 2:07.21, saved by 0.19sec from being overhauled by the fast-finishing double medley champion of Paris 2026, Ireland's Ellen Walshe.
There was no getting past the fastest win ever at the Europeans, Mireia Belmonte García (ESP) having clocked 2:04.79 in 2014 on her way, and with the guidance of coach Fred Vergnoux, to becoming the first Spanish woman ever to claim Olympic gold in swimming, at Rio 2016.
No shame in not reaching a very high bar indeed, but alongside Macinnes Scottish record, Bach's effort set a Danish record.
A littler over an hour later, Macinnes would have another gold in the bag, with Great Britain teammates in the 4x100m medley:
Craig Lord
Macinnes has been working for this moment for some while, so the gold had been in her sights. The relay was something else. She said:
"That 200 was definitely a target for me. It was a long wait all summer, and I mean, especially this week, it's felt like a long wait [to get to last day]. With the relay, it was maybe more of a surprise."
[you can find more quotes from Keanna on the relay on a refresh of the relay file/link above].
A 2:05 200 'fly is hard enough, so how did it feel to leap back in to help the team?
"I've done that double quite a lot this season... we've been practicing lots of relays as Britain, especially with a focus on that medley team, [with a view to] it progressing come LA2028. Back at the Commonwealth Games, it was also a double that I did, with and even tighter turnaround, so it was actually a bit of a luxury to be able to do a full swim down."
The only rush she felt was having to get to the 'fly medal presentation on time.
Back to the 200 final - and had she been aware of where her rivals were just behind her, she in their sights as he set the pace go to gold?
"Yeah, I was focusing on being more relaxed to 100, because at the Commonwealth Games I was fast to 100, but it wasn't necessarily relaxed, whereas I was even faster today - and it felt good to 100. So that's definitely positive. And I knew I was in the lead at 150, and I honestly didn't really see Helena Bach sneaking up on me down that last 50. But for me, it was a race down to the 2:05 anyway - that was the target I had for this season: I just had my head down into the wall."
Job done. And a big tick for her work at Stirling, in a group with 100 breaststroke champion and 200 silver medalist here, Angharad Evans and 200 backstroke champion in Paris, Katie Shanahan. The three of them alone picked up a pile of medals at a home Commonwealth last month. In what way was it working for her? Says Macinnes:
"I think we've got like a really good coaching setup. It's quite unique in Stirling. We've got the two coaches that work alongside each other, which is quite rare. Usually there's a main lead coach and a supporting coach, but our coaches are quite equal and they kind of take a split of the group to sort of focus on each, but we all do our sessions together and things.
"And obviously I'm training with some other really strong swimmers in the group, and for the 100, I've got Lucy Grieve to train with for the fly as well. So I think we're all doing well and we all hold each other accountable for our training and prep; there's no slacking, which, maybe, some other groups might have."
The History File below ...
