Twenty year old Katy Whitfield found her rhythm on Saturday 15th August when she won the British Gas Great London Swim, beating 10km world champion Keri-Ann Payne in the process.
Whitfield swam the one mile race in an impressive 17 minutes, 39.74 seconds, almost three seconds faster than Brazilian 5km world champion bronze medallist Polianna Okimoto. Also competing in the star-studded event at the Royal Victoria Dock was triple Olympic medallist Australia’s Stephanie Rice and Great Britain’s Olympic bronze medallist Cassie Patten.
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The race, the first of four that takes place around Britain, attracts approximately ten thousand swimmers of all abilities who swim the one mile open water challenge. Whitfield’s British teammate from the Rome World Championships last month, Payne, came in 4th place with a time of 17:50:52.
Whilst disappointing, Payne has just spent the past three weeks competing in Italy where she won gold in the 10km open-water race. Whitfield came 35th in the 10km race. With such a talented group competing it is a very commendable win for Whitfield.
Five of the six Beijing Olympic 10km medallists competed in both the male and female races. Cassie Patten, winner of the 2008 Great North Swim, failed to make the swim team for Rome, but placed third here with a time of 17:48:85.
The next race of the series, the British Gas Great Scottish Swim will be on Saturday August 29th.
Imogen Jacobs, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
