Jessica Fullalove admits she will not dwell on results at last week’s British Swimming Championships too long, with the focus now on trying to make the team for next summer’s Olympic Games.
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 she clocked 2:11.33 in the morning’s heats to qualify second fastest for the evening session.
But it proved to be a difficult race for Fullalove in the final and Lizzie Simmonds dominated to clock 2:08.38 and take gold.
Georgia Hohmann went second-quickest with 2:11.78 and that left Fullalove to settle for bronze as she eventually touched in 2:12.36.
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.
But 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 there, maybe the 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 because it would mean a lot.
“The main goal for me is all about next year and making that team for Rio and going through the process.
“I just wanted to come here and do the best I could and that’s all I could do but obviously it wasn’t the result I wanted.
“I had a good morning swim which was really encouraging and that’s what I need to get used to, if I can go to the big competitions then I need to be swimming fast in the morning.”
In a meet that saw Adam Peaty claim a new 100m breastroke world record, there were encouraging performances across the board ahead of a busy year of action.
And with the World Championships coming up this summer, Fullalove knows she needs to put in the hard work if she is going to cut it with the best in the business.
“It was a good swim for me in the morning and I knew I needed to go out really fast in the morning and get myself a good lane,” she added.
“I thought I could go faster in the evening but it was nice to have a morning session where I came out and did exactly what I needed to.
“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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Main image courtesy of Olympics via YouTube, with thanks.
