James Guy secured two golds at the Flanders Speedo Cup on Saturday and there was also a victorious return to Sochi for Great Britain's speed skating star Elise Christie. Here's our review of the last 24 hours.
Britain’s double world champion James Guy took two golds on day one of the Flanders Speedo Cup.
The Millfield swimmer claimed the 200m freestyle title in Antwerp on Saturday before going on to win over 400m later.
He was joined on the 200m podium by Nick Grainger and all of the medals in the 400m were claimed by Brits, with Jay Lelliott and Max Litchfield taking silver and bronze respectively.
British swimmers also took all of the podium places in the women’s 200m backstroke and 200m butterfly events.
Rose Rudin finished first in the 200m backstroke, ahead of Brittany Horton and then Anna Newland, and in the butterfly it was Amelia Clynes who secured gold, with silver going to Holly Hibbott and Aimee Willmott taking bronze.
Hibbott and Willmott did both win titles though, in the 800m freestyle and 400m individual medley respectively, and there were also golds for Georgia Davies in the 50m backstroke, Katie Matts in the 100m breaststoke and Fran Halsall in the 50m butterfly- when there was yet another clean sweep for British competitors as Rachael Kelly took silver and Lauren Quigley bronze.
Andrew Willis also bagged gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke.
Elise Christie made it a victorious return to Sochi as she successfully defended her 500m and 1500m titles at the short track speed skating European Championships.
Just under two years ago, Christie suffered heartbreak at the Olympic Games in Sochi, failing to come away with a medal despite being hotly tipped before the competition.
But there was no leaving empty handed this time around as she took gold in both the 500m and 1500m on day two in Russia.
Despite already winning three World Cup medals this season the British skater admitted before the Europeans that she was unsure of her form following a pre-season hampered by injury.
But judging by the level of performance in Sochi, the 25-year-old is right on track ahead of March’s World Championships.
Christie timed her run to perfection in the 1500m to cross the line first ahead of Dutch duo Jorien ter Mors and Suzanne Schulting while similar tactics also worked in the 500m final as she edged ahead of the Netherlands’ Lara van Ruijven and France’s Veronique Peirron.
Fellow Briton Charlotte Gilmartin won the 1500m B final while Jack Whelbourne was sixth in the men’s 1500m final.
All three have qualified for the 1,000m along with Farrell Treacy with Christie well-placed to defend her overall title.
Freddie Woodward believes he is diving as well as he ever has after winning double gold at the British National Diving Cup.
The City of Sheffield star followed up his 1m springboard title from Friday with the 3m gold in Southend-on-Sea on Saturday after his reverse three-and-a-half somersault in the final helped him post a personal best score of 420.50.
“I didn’t have the greatest preliminary rounds so I am really proud of how I performed in the final,” the 20-year-old told British Swimming.
“I came here looking for a medal of any colour, and in either event, and to win my second gold in a 15-point PB demonstrates that I am in a much better shape that I was last year.
“I missed this competition due to injury last year and I found that tough but my time off has meant that I have been able to put in all the hard work that is necessary for a personal best performance. I feel like I am diving better than I have never done before. It is a really incredible feeling.”
Woodward was followed closely behind by Chris Mears while bronze went to James Heatly.
In the women’s 10m platform it was Tonia Couch who won gold ahead of an extremely strong field, while Commonwealth champions Alicia Blagg and Rebecca Gallantree took the 3m synchro title.
World champion Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow took part in their first competition together as a pair in the 10m synchro, ending up as the only competitors due to a powercut.
Daley said: “Dan has come back from injury a lot stronger and he has been able to step up to the big dives with ease. Hopefully we can continue to work hard together and elevate our scores to qualify for the Olympic Games.”
Three of Britain’s doubles players exited the Australian Open overnight, although one of them will be in action once again tonight against a former Davis Cup team-mate.
Taiwan pairing Yung-Jan Chan and Hao-Ching Chan beat Britain’s Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith 6-3 6-4 in their round three match.
And in the mixed doubles, Dominic Inglot and his partner Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova lost 6-3 7-5 to multiple Grand Slam winner Martina Hingis and Leander Paes in round one.
But the 29-year-old Inglot will have another chance to progress overnight when he lines up alongside Robert Lindstedt in the men’s doubles against fellow Brit Jamie Murray and his partner Bruno Soares in the third round.
Murray’s brother Andy will also be in action when he takes on home player Bernard Tomic in round four of the men’s singles and in the women’s individual event, Johanna Konta takes on 21st-seed Ekaterina Makarova.
Britain’s Dominic Parsons recorded his best World Cup result of the season by finishing sixth in Whistler.
Parsons’ initial run of 53.15 had him eighth in Canada but he surpassed that second time around with a time of 52.91.
The UK’s No.1 men’s slider has been a model of consistency this season, with three seventh-place finishes and has only been outside the top ten once in the six World Cup events so far.
He is currently sixth in the overall World Cup standings, with two races remaining, and the World Championships also on the horizon next month.
Sportsbeat 2016