Jess sharpens her Rio focus

Jessica Fullalove: had to settle for bronze

SWIMMING: JESSICA Fullalove admits her focus is now on making the British team for next summer’s Olympic Games.

She won’t dwell, she says, on results at the British Swimming Championships for too long. The City of Manchester swimmer went into the final day of competition at the London Aquatics Centre with high hopes of gold in the 200m backstroke.

And it looked like she might be able to pull off a memorable victory after clocking 2min 11.33sec in the morning’s heats to qualify second fastest.

But the final proved to be a difficult race for Fullalove and Lizzie Simmonds dominated, to clock 2:08.38m and take gold.

Georgia Hohmann went second-quickest with 2:11.78m and left Fullalove on bronze with 2:12.36m.

That medal added to a sixth-place finish in the 100m backstroke final and a fourth place in the 50m backstroke time trial earlier in the week.

Despite the disappointment she says she wants to come back stronger than ever - and book her spot for Rio 2016.

“I don't know what went wrong; maybe nerves got the better of me, but it's a learning curve and I need to take something from it,” she said. “It hasn't been a great meet but that's a different story and I want to make sure I am on that team next year for the Olympics. The main goal for me is all about next year and making that team.”

With the World Championships this summer, Fullalove knows she needs to put in hard work if she is going to cut it with the best.

“It was a disappointing final and I’m a bit gutted but it’s all about coming back stronger from here.”

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