Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Day 1

Day 1

Thursday 24th July 2014

My first event of the 2014 Commonwealth Games took place today, it was the 50m Breaststroke.

The easiest way to describe how I was feeling was..... Nervous!!

I swam in Heat No.4, Lane No.7.  With a personal best time of 33.53, I knew that all I could do was to go out and do my best, and hopefully finish with a new personal best.

It was a strong field, with swimmers in the previous heat swimming times of between 30.49 and 35.19, I knew it would take a new PB to get me through to anywhere near a semi-final.

I was off!  What an amazing feeling to swim against swimmers from around the world, I was happy when I looked up at the scoreboard and realised I had finished 5th in my heat in a new PB of 33.28!

With just one heat left to swim, it was a nervewracking wait to see if I had successfully qualified for the semi-final.  I'd done it!  I had qualified in 16th place and had secured a place in Semi-Final No.1, Lane No.8, next to my team mate Laura Kinley who would be swimming in Lane No.7.

Here is a link to take you to an interview after my race:

Click HERE to watch full interview

50m Breaststroke Semi-Final (Day 1)

Wow! What a feeling...... due to swimming in Lane No.8 (Closest to the camera) I was first to walk onto the poolside when my name was called..... I was VERY nervous.  However, knowing I had swam a PB in the heat I knew that whatever I did would be a great achievement as I hadn't expected to make any semi-finals.  Once everyone was on the poolside, we were called to the starting blocks.  'Take your marks..... GO!!'  We were off!!  This was the most AMAZING buzz I had ever experienced, I swam as fast as I could, touching the timing pads and looked up, I had climbed a place in my heat, finishing 7th in a slightly slower time of 33.38, but I was so happy!!

At the end of the second semi-final, the results were shown on the scoreboard, I had successfully finished 15th overall in the Women's 50m Breaststroke Event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games!! Tomorrow was a day off before returning to the pool on Saturday for more racing.  At the end of the session, I got to see my mum, dad and younger brother, Harry, it was lovely to see them as I hadn't seen them since I left the train station at Lancaster on Sunday.

They were very proud......