Double silver for GB in Budapest as Kathleen Dawson vows there is still work to do
BySportsbeat
Updated 19/05/2021 at 21:54 GMT
Kathleen Dawson underlined her impressive form with two silvers for Great Britain on another strong night in the pool for the British swimmers at the European Aquatics Championships. Her success was matched by the GB team of Tom Dean, Matthew Richards, James Guy and Duncan Scott. Those medals take GB's overall tally to eight, with three golds, four silvers and one bronze.
Netherlands' Kira Toussaint (C) poses with her gold medal past silver maedallist Great Britain's Kathleen Dawson (R) and bronze medallist Netherlands' Maaike De Waard on the podium of the Womens 50m Backstroke Swimming event
Image credit: Getty Images
Kathleen Dawson has vowed to keep on pushing towards Tokyo after winning a first individual international medal for five years with silver at the European Aquatics Championships.
British record holder Dawson continued her hot streak in the pool by finishing second in the women's 50m backstroke final as the Netherlands' Kira Toussaint took gold.
Her success was matched by the GB team of Tom Dean, Matthew Richards, James Guy and Duncan Scott, who signed off the evening by clinching another silver in the men's 4x200m freestyle. Those medals take GB's overall tally to eight, with three golds, four silvers and one bronze, and there could be yet more to come after eight Brits booked final spots.
Speaking after her race, Dawson admitted the medal even came as a surprise to her.
"I'm super pleased with myself, given everything I've been through over the last five years since 2016 - it's been a hard journey, but I'm so glad I've made it back on to the podium, especially in the 50m, where I didn't come into the meet expecting a medal," she said. "I was a bit stagnant for a while, even before my knee injury. As soon as I did it, I knew my swimming career wasn't going to be over - so I'm really glad I stuck it out.
"I had such a great team behind me that got me back in the pool, I'm really pleased for myself and I'm really pleased for them too. For me, I can't just sit back and think, 'I've done my job now' - I've got to keep pushing because I know I've got Cassie Wild behind me who's ready to just take my place at any point. It's great having her there."
Daniel Jarvis opened the night's action in the men's 1500m freestyle, finishing fifth in a time of 14:58.42 as he continues to build towards his maiden Olympic Games.
It was then time for Dean's first race of the evening, with the 21-year-old 200m specialist producing a new lifetime best in the men's 100m freestyle final to finish in seventh.
The third final of the evening saw Sarah Vasey turn first in the women's 100m breaststroke before finishing in sixth behind British teammate Molly Renshaw in fifth.
Dawson grabbed GB's first medal of the evening, taking silver in the women's 50m backstroke a day after the 23-year-old broke the British record in the semi-final. Although unable to replicate her time of 27.19 seconds in the medal showdown, she touched the wall in 27.46 to just miss out on the gold to Toussaint (27.36) in the final.
British teammate and fellow Tokyo-bound swimmer Cassie Wild also came close to finishing on the podium, finishing in fourth place with a new lifetime best of 27.85.
"I'm over the moon to have done three 50m races and three PBs," said Wild. "I've trained through this meet, so that's why I'm quite surprised.
"It's been three years since I've been anywhere near my 50m PB, so I'm just looking forward to the 100m and 200m now."
Luke Greenbank produced his own personal best to sneak into the men's 100m backstroke final while Laura Stephens and Keanna MacInnes reached the 200m butterfly final.
In the men's 200m breaststroke, Rio 2016 Olympian Ross Murdoch and James Wilby qualified from their semi-finals to secure neighbouring lanes in the final.
Max Litchfield and Scott also booked their final berths in the men's 200m individual medley, finishing second and third in their respective semi-finals.
And with two gold medals already to her name in the 4x100m and 4x200m mixed freestyle, 20-year-old Freya Anderson surged into the women's 200m freestyle showpiece.
That set the stage for the men's 4x200m final as Dean, Richards, Guy and Scott all delivered strong legs to touch the wall in 7:04.61, taking silver behind the Russians.
Guy has now produced no fewer than three 1:45 splits in 36 hours and after securing his third relay medal in as many days, he vowed the best is yet to come.
He said: "The past few days have been hard, doing back-to-back events, but the major meet is in the summer and this is all part of the process for that.
"We're trying to bounce on from the trials to now, and tonight's swim was a good race from all four boys and I think we know we can drop a bit more in 10 weeks' time and challenge for a nice medal."
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