JESSICA LLOYD will learn on May 7 whether she will swim for England in this summer’s Commonwealth Games.
The 19-year-old from Diggle, who is hoping to win a place on the freestyle relay team, is delighted to be in the frame for a place.
It follows a disrupted build up to the British Gas Championships in Glasgow as the nationals also acted a trial for the Commonwealth Games.
“I contracted shingles not long before the championships and thought it was game over as far as qualifying for the Games,” explained the former Saddleworth School pupil.
Jessica, who was out of the pool for 10 days, luckily recovered in time for championships were she competed in the 50, 100 and 200 metres freestyle.
She finished fourth in the 100m and fifth in the 50m, each time finishing behind winner Fran Halsall, but failed to progress beyond the heats in the 200m.
The fourth-place finish ought to be enough to win a place on the relay team as happened with her selection to swim for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games.
There was frustration for Jessica, though, as she so nearly finished in the top three in the 100m which would have in all probability earned her an individual place in the Commonwealth team.
Jessica explained: “I was only one hundredth of a second from finishing third and I was fuming to miss out by such a small margin.
“However, I was really pleased looking back when you take into account that I had been ill and at one stage though it was game over.
“And my coach was also delighted saying how well I performed so soon after having shingles also bodes well for qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.”
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