She may have missed out on the British 100m backstroke title in Glasgow but bronze medallist Jessica Fullalove believes she is not far off her best.
City of Manchester Aquatics Club swimmer Fullalove contested her first final of the 2016 British Swimming Championships on Wednesday night, touching the wall in 1:00.65 for third behind champion Georgia Davies and Lizzie Simmonds while Stockport Metro’s Lauren Quigley was fourth.
The Oldham-born 19-year-old will also be in action in the 200m backstroke on Friday and she believes a personal best performance is just around the corner.
“That went really well for me, I was only 0.3 off my PB and I’m happy to get among the medals,” she said.
“I was happy with my performance, but obviously every time you race there is always something you can improve on, but I’ll make a few little tweaks here and there ready for the 200m on Friday.
“I’m really excited for that because that’s what I train for. I’m looking forward to getting a good time down and see what I can do.
“Training has been going really well and the whole lead up to this event has been good.
“I’m feeling the best I’ve ever felt. I really want to hit some PBs this week and if I can do that, who knows what will happen.
“I definitely think I’m near to hitting those targets, especially in the 200m, but we’ll have to see how it goes.”
Elsewhere former Stockport Metro swimmer Keri-Anne Payne believes she is on course break her lifetime best performance in the 800m freestyle on Thursday.
The open water star was a surprise finalist in the 200m freestyle on the opening day of competition and continued that form with the second fastest time in the 800 heats on Wednesday morning behind Jazz Carlin.
She said: “Because the open water trials for me are so late, they are in June, it’s given me the chance to rest and focus on doing a good 800.
“So my sights are set on doing a PB. I’m here to fine-tune my motor skills for the open water which is my main focus and always will be.
“But I want to surprise myself, surprise some other people and see how I get on in this kind of environment again.”
Tickets for the European Aquatics Championships – the biggest event to be held at the London Aquatics Centre since the 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games – from May 9-22 are now available here: www.euroaquatics2016.london
Image courtesy of Oldham Council, via YouTube, with thanks
