Olympic silver medallist Keri-Anne Payne claimed victory in her first 10km race of the season at the LEN Open Water Cup in Eilat, Israel.
Payne used her tactic of leading the race from the start where she controlled the race and dictated the speed.
At the British Gas Swimming Championships in Manchester, Payne showed herself to be one of the stand-out performers which a number of impressive performances.
She broke an eight year 1500m Freestyle British record as well as securing herself a place in the relay team for Shanghai with her performance in the 200m Freestyle.
The 2009 10km World Champion took the victory in her fastest ever time of 1:52:12 and has guaranteed her place for Shanghai.
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Fellow British Gas ITC Stockport swimmer Cassandra Patten finished in 10th place and as the second fastest British swimmer she secured her place on the plane to Shanghai.
Mark Perry, British Swimming Open Water Performance Manager, commented: “I am pleased with the performances that we saw today. Keri-anne had an impressive swim throughout the race. It was good to see her go out, attack the race and come out with an impressive victory.
“We have our four athletes now qualified for the World Championships where it will prove to be a very competitive race but I think our athletes will be ready for the challenge.”
Shanghai will prove to be the first step on the way to qualifying for the London 2012 Olympics for Open Water swimmers. If they finish in the top ten in the 10km race they will have met the qualification criteria for the Games.
Bethan Borrett, Sportsister
The Women’s Sport Magazine
