Great Britain’s swimmers get things going in the pool with three golds and a bronze while Sandy Ryan and Josh Kelly keep up the fine form in the ring as both guarantee themselves bronze. Here’s our round-up of day 11’s action at the European Games in Baku.
Abbie Wood says she turned on the burners to make sure of success as she picked up Team GB’s first of three gold medals in the pool at the European Games in Baku.
Wood’s gold in the 400m individual medley got things going for Britain before Holly Hibbott followed suit in the 800m freestyle and the men’s 4x100m relay team sealed victory, with the women’s team also taking bronze..
“It’s my first European medal so I’m really excited about it. It’s a surreal feeling,” said Wood.
While Wood was busy sealing gold Holly Hibbott was watching on and gathering inspiration for her 800m freestyle race.
And the 15-year-old also managed to produce the goods as she swam 8:39.02 to edge out Russia’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova by 0.71 seconds and seal the team’s second gold of the day.
“I didn’t really expect to win gold but I was hoping that I could do it,” said Hibbott. “I think this is definitely the highlight of my career so far and it inspires me to go on in the future and do more.”
And the Brits weren’t finished there as the men’s 4x100m relay team of Duncan Scott, Martyn Walton, Daniel Speers and Cameron Kurle took the third gold of the day before Darcy Deakin, Madeleine Crompton, Hannah Featherstone and Georgia Coates took bronze in the women’s 4x100m relay. Read more here.
Sandy Ryan and Josh Kelly added more medals to Team GB’s tally as the duo both guaranteed themselves a minimum of bronze with quarter final victories.
Kelly saw off the challenge of Ireland’s Adam Nolan with a 2-1 victory while Ryan was in fine form as she beat home fighter Elena Vystropova.
Victory means Ryan now goes up against Russia’s Anastasiia Beliakova – her conqueror in last year’s World Boxing Championship final.
But she is confident of revenge and is desperate to earn the chance to fight for gold.
“I’m over the moon and I’m completely speechless. The crowd was amazing, I know they were for her but it just gave me a buzz and I played along with it,” she said.
“It means so much to me, I couldn’t keep my emotions together after the fight, I want to thank everyone at home because they always support me.
“I need to start putting the icing on the cake now and get gold, I face the Russian next and she beat me in the world finals so revenge will be sweet.” Read more here.
Corinna Lawrence and James Honeybone have both set their sights on next month’s World Championships after last 16 exits from the European Games.
Lawrence got Team GB going on the first day of fencing action in the women’s epee and picked up three wins from her six pool matches to secure progress to the final 32.
There she dismissed Romania’s Amalia Tataran but came unstuck against Italy’s Giulia Rizzi who edged a tight affair 15-12.
“Looking back I fenced really well today, there’s been a couple of points where technically I could have been a little bit better,” she said.
“But I’m pretty sharp and I’m looking forward to going to the World Championships in a few weeks and this is a good warm up for that.”
Honeybone meanwhile was in action in the men’s sabre and, despite some good early performances, also succumbed to a last 16 exit at the hands of Romania’s Tiberiu Dolniceanu.
“While it’s disappointing to lose I’m feeling pretty good in my fencing and if I can fence to the same level at the World Championships there’s no reason I can’t get a good result there and move closer to Rio,” said Honeybone. Read more here.
Fresh from helping Team GB to relay gold in the pool Martyn Walton says he is ready and raring to go ahead of his first individual event in Baku.
Walton helped the team to 4x100m gold in a blistering swim and will go in the 100m freestyle and 200m individual medley heats on Wednesday before he takes on the 200m freestyle and 400m individual medley later in the week.
It means a hectic few days for Walton but the Stevenage swimmer, who also won 4x100m freestyle gold at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing last year, insists he wouldn’t have it any other way.
This year represents his last on the junior circuit and with the World Junior Championships also taking place in Singapore in August, Walton intends to take full advantage.
“Baku is a big occasion and a great experience for me. I hope I can step up and perform when it matters,” said Walton, who is part of a select group of young swimmers on the Tokyo 2020 project, which aims to try and enhance their medal prospects at the Olympics in Japan.
“I’ve got the World Junior Championships in August too so that’s two international meets quite close to together.
“I want to gain as much experience as possible as it’s all building towards making that step up to the seniors.” Read more here.
© Sportsbeat 2015