Champions of TomorrowRising Stars

By Samuel Wakefield,

AMELIA Maughan admits she has no idea how she will perform at the British Championships starting this weekend – but she can’t wait to find out.

READY AND WAITING: Amelia Maughan will take to the Olympic pool at the British Swimming Championships

The event at the Olympic Aquatics centre begins on March 3 and acts as selection trials for both the London 2012 Games as well as the European Junior Championships which Maughan has her sights set on.

After securing European junior silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay last year as well as bronze at the world equivalent Maughan has experience of that level but the teenager is going it alone this year.

She is competing in the 200m and 400m freestyle and Maughan – who trains at Bath’s Intensive Training Centre – can’t wait for the action to get underway in London.

“The 400m is mainly just for getting rid of the nerves because I get really nervous before big races, the 200m will feel shorter then as well,” said Maughan, one of Kellogg’s’ Champions of Tomorrow.

“I have no idea how I am going to deal with the pressure of the competition, I just hope I am focused.

“I haven’t swum well in a while so I’m not sure if I am confident or not but I am confident I can handle my nerves when it comes to it because I think it is worse going into the race.

“I feel a lot stronger now in training and my times have been coming down. I’ve lost some weight by hitting the gym and just training harder.

“I want to at least get near my personal best because the racing is going to be of the highest quality and the standard is going to be amazing.”

Maughan visited the Olympic Pool for a training session last year but competing in front of a crowd is going to be a different experience for the young swimmer.

And, with double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington and 2008 Beijing bronze medallist Jo Jackson set to feature, Maughan can’t wait to share the pool with her idols.

“When I went to the pool there wasn’t a lot of people but there was already an atmosphere and you could tell that when the place is full it is going to be special,” she added.

“I have been waiting for a long time so it is going to be great. The experience of the people who have raced at the Olympics there is going to be helpful and I will definitely ask them for advice about how they cope more than anything.

“Because it is the trials everyone is going to be there and people are really going to up their game. I would love to get in the semi finals or the finals to race against some of the big girls.”

To celebrate 15 years of support for British Swimming, Kellogg’s is offering a ‘Free Kids Swim’ on 30 million packs of cereal to encourage families to take the plunge together. Collect a voucher on pack and take it down to your local participating pool. For more information, please visit www.kelloggs.co.uk/freeswim  

Champions of TomorrowRising Stars

By Sam Wakefield,

KRISTINA Neves admitted her taste of the London 2012 Olympic big time was a frustrating one with an illness hangover causing the teenager to be shy of her best.

Neves got a behind-the-scenes look at the London Games at the British Swimming Championships, which doubled up as the test event for this summer’s Games.

However the 15-year-old was, by her own admission, short of her best.

Despite still battling a cold Neves refused to shy away from the limelight, racing in six events throughout the eight-day event.

But, while the week was a busy one, Neves insisted it was one fraught with frustration due to her feeling a long way off her best.

“It was a good week and it was amazing to be in the Olympic Aquatics Centre and to experience that,” said Neves.

“It was great to be in the pool and experiencing that but it was frustrating to not be feeling at my best.

“I was starting to get a bit tired during the week because I was swimming in a lot of events and I wasn’t feeling at my best.

“I was still trying to get over an illness that I’d had in the run up to the week so I wasn’t feeling at my best and it did have a bit of an effect on me.

“The fact that I didn’t race as I would have liked might be down to the amount I raced and also I hadn’t been training enough because I had been ill, so it is probably something to do with that, it was such a tough build-up.”

Neves saved her best until last in London, finishing 15th in the 800m freestyle which was won by two-time Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington.

Three top-30 finishes in the 200m butterfly, 400m freestyle and 400m medley rounded out a solid week alongside the cream of British swimming.

And Neves admitted, despite her fitness issues it had still been a week to remember.

“It was very intimidating obviously in there because it was the Olympic pool,” she added. “But it was such a privilege to be in there and it was really exciting.”

To celebrate 15 years of support for British Swimming, Kellogg’s is offering a ‘Free Kids Swim’ on 30 million packs of cereal to encourage families to take the plunge together. Collect a voucher on pack and take it down to your local participating pool. For more information, please visit www.kelloggs.co.uk/swimming

Champions of TomorrowChampions of Tomorrow

By Jenna Randall, three-time Commonwealth silver medallist

ARRIVING back in England to deep snow was certainly a shock to the system having spent January out in America at a training camp.

SPANISH SAHARA: Jenna Randall, left, and Olivia Federici are currently preparing for their first competition of 2012 in Barcelona

It wasn’t that warm in San Francisco when I was there but it was certainly better than the snow back home.

I am not really much of a sledging fan so I didn’t head out into the white stuff to play around – I retreated to the sofa and to the cinema to watch some films.

I went to see The Descendants which was good and there were a lot of other films at home and generally the plan was just to stay warm.

We were given a couple of days off to get back used to the time zones and things which was nice because there is not going to be much rest between now and the Olympics.

The competitions start soon at the Spanish Open in Barcelona and then there is a big one every month between now and the Olympics.

Barcelona will be the first time we compete with our new routines which is exciting. Myself and my syncrho partner Olivia Federici spent our time in America working on our free routine so it will be nice to perform that and get some feedback.

Routines are always a work in progress because when we compete we always make sure we get as much feedback as we can.

We will go up to the judges at the end of the competition and ask them what they liked and disliked about the routine.

Then we can go away and work on things and hopefully get everything as good as it can possibly be in time for London 2012.

We have competed at the Spanish Open for the last couple of years so we know what to expect from that event and it’ll be nice to get the season started.

It’ll also be nice to be back with the rest of the synchro girls and get back into training for the team event. No doubt, having been away for a while, we will have a lot to catch up on on the duet routines so it is going to be a busy time.

We are like a big bunch of sisters really and there is no gossiping and we all get on well so it will be nice to be back in training with them.

The only bad side – apart from the weather – about being back in the UK is our start times in the morning.   In America they liked to start a bit later in the day so we were starting training at 9am and going through until 7 at night. Now we’re home it’s back to 7am starts!

To celebrate 15 years of support for British Swimming, Kellogg’s is offering a ‘Free Kids Swim’ on 30 million packs of cereal to encourage families to take the plunge together. Collect a voucher on pack and take it down to your local participating pool. For more information, please visit www.kelloggs.co.uk/freeswim

Champions of TomorrowRising Stars

By Samuel Wakefield,

AMELIA Maughan battled nerves, doubts and injury to secure two European Junior Championship swims at the British equivalent – and admits she’s only coming to terms with it now after a hectic week in London.

 
PLEASED AS PUNCH: Amelia Maughan was happy with her efforts at the British Championships in London

Maughan admitted to not knowing what to expect ahead of the Olympic trials in London but there was little need to worry as she impressed in the 200m and 100m freestyles in particular.

She finished ninth in the 200m in 2:01.18minutes – missing the final by 0.76seconds – and seventh in the 100m in 56.02 with, most importantly, both times inside the European junior qualifying standard.

Maughan even recovered from straining a ligament in her elbow in the 200m semi-final to hit the mark in the 100m – and she can’t quite believe just how well she has done.

“It hasn’t quite sunk, all my family and friends have been supporting me so much and to be honest I didn’t think I was going to do that well,” said Maughan.

“But now I am starting to realise how well I did with people saying congratulations and saying how well I have done, so I guess it has sunk in a bit.

“I can’t wait for the European Junior Championships, it will be so much fun, but there are many competitors who are going really fast at the moment.

“But it will be a really good competition and I’ve been to Antwerp before and it is a very fast pool so hopefully it will be a good meet. I’m going to be training for it now.”

Maughan opened her campaign at the Olympic Aquatics Centre in the 400m freestyle, clocking 4:19.88, and closed it in the 50m splash and dash recording a time of 26.51.

She didn’t make it out of the heats of either but Maughan credits her opening swim in the 400m freestyle for the performances that were to come in the 200m and 100m.

“Before I raced I had a feeling it was going to be a bad week but the 400m gave me every confidence and I have just taken it from there,” she added.

“Confidence levels rose and I started to enjoy the week more and it has just got better and better and it has turned into a brilliant week.”

To celebrate 15 years of support for British Swimming, Kellogg’s is offering a ‘Free Kids Swim’ on 30 million packs of cereal to encourage families to take the plunge together. Collect a voucher on pack and take it down to your local participating pool. For more information, please visit www.kelloggs.co.uk/swimming