Swimming: Pickering leads the way with golden display
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Your support makes all the difference.Karen Pickering got the Games off to the best possible start for England's swimmers last night when she won gold ahead of her compatriot, Karen Legg, in the women's 200 metres freestyle final.
Pickering came home in 1min 59.69sec to set a Games record as she held off Legg who finished in 1:59.86.
The Australians Elka Graham and Petria Thomas shared the bronze after both touching in 2:0.07, while the world champion Giaan Rooney, also of Australia, finished out of the medals in seventh place.
Pickering admitted she was taken aback by the achievement and said she hoped that her team-mates could maintain that stunning form in the pool. "I can't believe I just did that. I had been feeling good but I knew it was a tough race. It's such a great feeling.
"I thought it was [Legg] nearby and I know how tough she is on the last lap because we've done so many races like that. I think that helped tonight when it mattered. I'd been feeling really good before the race but wasn't expecting to go that fast. We got a one-two which is incredible. It's the third time running the girls from England have won the first event so we've got to keep that going."
The Australian Thomas, who is aiming for gold in eight events, led after the first 50m, with Pickering second. Legg had hit the front by the 100m mark, just ahead of Pickering and Thomas, with the race wide open. Pickering, however, took charge on the third length and kept her rivals at bay to complete her set of Commonwealth 200m freestyle medals, after taking the bronze in 1994 and the silver at the last Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
Legg, who is from Poole in Dorset, believes the one-two result sets up the English women for the 4x200m relay. "I'm really pleased with that. I think we've got a good chance in the four by two. I think we are going to do really well," she said.
Thomas responded to her earlier disappointment by recording the fastest qualifying time in the semi-finals of the 50m butterfly. With team-mate Nicole Irving second quickest, the chances of Australian gold today are high, although Scotland will hope for a medal with Alison Sheppard third fastest and Kerry Martin also qualifying.
England will also have representation in the form of Rosalind Brett, while Wales' Karla Hancocks scraped into the final.
Normal service was resumed in the semi-finals of the men's 50m backstroke when Australia's Matt Walsh emerged with a new Commonwealth Games record of 25.86 to head the list of qualifiers for today's final. Canada's James Riley held the record for approximately five minutes after breaking the 26 second barrier, but Walsh responded immediately.
Third place in the opening semi was enough to see England's Martin Harris into the final as eighth fastest, but there was bad luck for Scotland's Gregor Tait and England's Adam Ruckwood, who finished ninth and 10th in the rankings respectively to miss the final.
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