Michael Bags Another Silver

On Friday evening at the World Short Championships in Istanbul, Michael Jamieson again showed he can dig deep to produce the goods when under pressure.

After admitting to some 'ropey swims' earlier in the week, Michael qualified as an 'outside smoker' in lane 8 for the final of the 200m breaststroke. A slow reaction time off the blocks and 6th place at the first 50 metre split were perhaps not quite what Michael had in mind for his last race of the championships.

However, a strong second 50 metres saw him gain three places into third spot at the 100 metre turn and a further gain into 2nd at the 150 metre mark. After that, it was deja vu with Michael trying to catch his Olympic nemesis Daniel Gyurta down the final 50 metres.

Gyurta won again, but Michael can take much away from these championships in addition to a new British record (2:03:00). As in the Olympic trials, he's proved he can overcome earlier performances that don't match his exacting standards. He's also proved he's not a 'one hit wonder' and can handle the pressure that the fame and fortune of being an Olympic medallist brings.

With his Bath team-mate Andrew Willis finishing in 5th, these two can continue to work off each other in training to target Daniel Gyurta the next time they meet. I'm looking forward to reporting a golden hued result soon :)

Overall, there was a good improvement in performance by Team GB with one gold, two silvers and three bronze medals won during the competition.

Back from Istanbul, there was plenty of opportunity to spot Michael on TV last night during Sports Personality of the Year as he was seated just behind Lord Coe. If you missed him, then you'll find he's shown in the Superstars lineup featured in the double Christmas/New Year issue of Radio times on page 11. Superstars will be broadcast on BBC1 on December 29th at 6.45pm.