Wood Joins The 2:08 200IM Club As Loughborough Mate Colbert Makes It Two Go To Paris
Abbie Wood said that seeing her family up in the stands at the London Aquatics Centre was “just so weird; they never see me when I actually swim well.” Well, they have now.
In 2:08.91, Wood entered the sub-2:09 club in a confident and controlled display of fine skills and pace under pressure, her Loughborough teammate Freya Colbert breathing down her neck on backstroke, losing ground to the breaststroke ace down the third length and then fighting back on the way to her own lifetime best, a 2:10.46, 0.16sec inside the target time for Paris.
The bronze went to Katie Shanahan, of the University of Stirling, in 2:11.39, a fine effort off the back of qualifying efforts in the 400m medley and 200m backstroke this week.
Wood was through in 27.85 (28.64), 1:00.83 (to Colbert’s 1:00.92), 1:37.91 (1:39.77) for 2:08.91, getting her inside the 2:09.23 lifetime best she set at Olympic trials for Tokyo three years ago and the 2:09.15 career high she then clocked for fourth place at the Games just 0.11sec shy of the podium.
Emerging from the final with a beaming smile on her face this evening, Wood, like Colbert coached by Dave Hemmings, said:
“Those final metres really burned, but I’m really glad it was tight on the front end, because that really made me honest on my backstroke, where sometimes I can ease. So to have two really good backstrokers either side [Freya Colbert and Katie Shanahan], and Freya a good freestyler pushing me all the way, it felt so good. The last 10m, I was hoping she was dying as much as me!
“The 200m IM is always my baby, and I just really wanted the opportunity to do it at the Olympics again, and hopefully do as well as I did in it last time. I think every older swimmer knows it’s so hard just to move on to the next second. Even though its just 0.2, I’m now in the 2:08s and it feels really nice. The event is moving on and I’m moving with it and getting closer to the girls at the top. Everyone is within inches of the world record, there are 2.07s and 2.08s being churned out, and I wanted to be a part of that, so hopefully that’s a good first stepping stone.
“My career is always a rollercoaster, so I am used to the lows and the highs. I think how I’ve grown throughout the last few years is just making sure I enjoy it the whole way through, because if I got too bogged down in going my best, or not going near my best, I’d be an emotional wreck. So I think I’m pretty well-taught that it will all come together when it needs to.”
Abbie Wood – image, with Loughborough teammate Freya Colbert finding familiar faces in the crowd as they celebrate racing inside the qualification target for the Paris Olympic Games
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