Robbie Renwick admits he was satisfied with his sixth-place finish in the 200m freestyle final at the World Championships despite having his heart set on a medal.
The 25-year-old, who finished in the same position exactly a year ago at the London 2012 Olympics, clocked 1:46.5 minutes – one, one-hundredth of a second better than 12 months previous.
Yet Renwick wasn’t the only one feeling a sense of déjà vu as more history was repeated in Barcelona with Yannick Agnel of France claiming gold just as he did in London.
Renwick admitted after the heats on Monday – where he touched home in 1:46.88 – that he needed to beat his own British record of 1:45.99 to be in with a chance of a medal, but even that would have kept the Scot in sixth.
“It is good apart from coming sixth which is a bit of a disappointment because it is all about the medals,” he said.
“I gave it a good shot but at the end of the day that is sport and that’s why I’m in the game to try and win medals at the top.
“I really went in there just focusing on my own race plan and obviously there were some good swimmers shooting off left, right and centre so it was really difficult not to panic.
“I knew I had to really work that second 100m. I was sixth at the Olympics and I would have loved to have stepped it up again because sport is about trying to win medals.”
The only other British athlete in action was Roberto Pavoni but he made a semi-final exit in the 200m butterfly.
Having scraped through to the last 16 in the morning heats, he placed eighth in his semi-final for 16th overall again in a time of 1:57.60.
But his World Championships are only just starting with the 200m and 400m medleys to come.
“I don’t think a final was ever on in the fly, it’s always in the back of your mind once you make it through but looking at the times I don’t think I could,” he said.
“I’ve got the 200m to come and then the 400m later in the week, so the aim is to progress from the semi-finals and take it from there.”
© Sportsbeat 2013