Fran Halsall retains 100m freestyle crown at British National Swimming Championships
By Telegraph staff and agencies
Published: 7:37PM BST 31 Mar 2010
Fran-tastic: Fran Halsall powers to victory in the 100m freestyle at the British National Swimming Championships Photo: PA
The 19-year-old was runner-up to Britta Steffen in the 100m freestyle in Rome last summer and on Wednesday night she held off Loughborough ITC team-mate Amy Smith to touch in 54.71secs.
The Liverpool-born swimmer then dived back in to qualify in sixth for Thursday's butterfly final in 1min 93secs with British record holder Ellen Gandy leading the way.
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Halsall rued the short time between her races and, with her goggles also having gone missing, it concluded a stressful time.
Halsall said: "It (the time between the races) was six minutes officially and we asked if it could be a bit more in between, maybe do an interview or something to help me out.
"Loads of people double up so it's a bit weird to have them so close together so I expected there to be an extra five minutes which there wasn't.
"I've had all sorts of issues - my goggles went missing suspiciously yesterday so I haven't been able to see where I've been going for the last two races.
"The fly I had to breathe with every stroke for the last 50m just to be able to tell where I was going. It's been a nightmare."
Halsall admitted she was not totally satisfied with her time in the freestyle final where she was pushed all the way by Smith, winner of the 50m butterfly.
She was though philosophical adding: "To go 60 seconds after doing the 100 freestyle for me is pretty good. I've been practising doing back-to-back swims recently.
"I expected to swim faster in that freestyle but I don't know what happened there so hopefully I can pull it back tomorrow night in the 100m fly."
James Goddard won a thrilling duel in the 200m backstroke to reclaim his national crown from Chris Walker-Hebborn.
The pair fought out a race of their own with Goddard, the former Commonwealth champion, holding off his 19-year-old opponent to touch in 1min 57.06secs, 0.33 ahead.
Their efforts represented the second and third best times in the world this year although Goddard, a two-time Olympian, believes he still has not reached his potential.
"There is something inside which knows I can go faster.
"I am chuffed with that time but I know I can go faster."