DIGGLE SWIMMER Jessica Lloyd believes she is peaking at precisely the right time for this month’s Commonwealth Games.
The 19-year-old is delighted with her form as the countdown to Glasgow 2014 continues.
“I feel I am improving every day and my preparations have gone really well,” explained the former Saddleworth School pupil.
Jessica’s final dress rehearsal for the Commonwealth Games came in the British Gas International Meet at her home pool – Manchester Aquatics Centre.
There were five podium finishes for Jessica which again underlined her good form.
Jessica will compete in Glasgow in the 50m freestyle as an individual and then in the 4 x 100m freestyle replay, an event in which England won a silver four years ago in New Delhi.
She explained: “The 50m freestyle is a fun event for me and, while I want to do well, I cannot see myself winning a medal.
“There is definitely medal potential in the relay. The team won a silver four years ago and our times are quicker today so hopefully we will do well again.”
Jessica added she is more relaxed than she was for the Olympic Games in London.
She continued: “I feel more mentally prepared than I was two years ago when the Olympics were my first major championships.
“I felt I was shoved into the limelight, but now feel I can take things in my stride as I know what to expect when it comes to things like handling the media.”
There was an injury scare for Jessica, though, when she dropped a 10kg weight in her foot in the gym but, happily, there was no serious damage.
Meanwhile, local hockey player Nicola White goes for gold in Glasgow at the Commonwealth Games later this month.
The 26-year-old, who began her playing days at Saddleworth Hockey Club, will be bidding to go one better than at New Delhi four years ago when she helped England win a silver medal.
Nicola admitted the build up to Glasgow has been disappointing after England could only finish 11th out of 12 in last month’s Radobank World Cup in Holland.
She said: “It was a really disappointing World Cup as we went in feeling we could do well. Though we lost all but two of our games, we didn’t play appallingly.
“It was just little things, but we learned lessons. We were creating chances, but not finishing them.
“It is about being positive and tweaking a couple of things. Hopefully it will be a one-off and we will learn from the experience.”
The legacy of the dismal World Cup is that England have slipped from third to seventh in the world rankings as a result of one bad tournament.
Had they remained third they would have gone into the Commonwealth Games as top seeds, but are now third behind Australia and New Zealand.
Nicola, whose grandmother lives in Dobcross, remains confident England will do well at the Commonwealth Games, though they first have a warm-up event, the Investec London Cup in which they play Wales, Scotland, Ireland and South Africa.
It will be played at Queen Elizabeth Park and Nicola is excited at the prospect of returning to the venue of London 2012 where she helped Great Britain win an Olympic Games bronze medal.
It will be a massive year for Nicola with the Champions Trophy taking place in Argentina in December.
“It is a big year with four major tournaments taking place. We were disappointed at our showing at the World Cup, but we have plenty of opportunities to put that right,” she said.
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