Women's Backstroke

Britain's Katy Sexton was seventh in the final of the 200m at Athens 2004, after failing to make the final in the shorter event. This was a disappointing performance as she had won the Gold in the 200 m backstroke and Silver in the 100 m backstroke at the 2003 World Championships.

Form

In 2006 Melanie Marshall changed from freestyle to backstroke and won Britains first medal, when she collected a 200m backstroke bronze at the European Championships, to add to the six Commonwealth Games medals that she won in Melbourne.

Events	Women's A	Women's B	Competitor	2006 World Rank	2006 Ranking Time	Championship Medal
100 m Backstroke	1:01.70	1:03.86	Melanie Marshall	19	1:01.55	Bronze @ Commonwealth Games
200 m Backstroke	2:12.73	2:17.38	Melanie Marshall	9	2:10.87	Bronze @ European Championship

Qualification

The A and B qualification times are shown in the table above for the specific events. The qualification period is from 15 March 2007 until 15 July 2008. Marshall has reached the 'A' standard in both backstroke events during 2006.

What to watch

Currently, it would appear that Marshall has a good chance of making both backstroke finals. We will be looking at her performance in the World Championships in March.