Said AIB Tigers’ Australian coach Matt McGee: ‘Hawky threw in a stormer in the 400m IM final.
He swam like a donkey in the heats and was lucky to make the final at all.
We both agreed he had to go out hard in the final and this he did with a level of quality and control that is testament to his understanding of the situation at hand.
He turned the field inside out and stole a medal from lane eight – that doesn’t happen very often at national level meets.’Hawky went looking for an Olympic trials qualifying time – and wasn’t left disappointed.’Halksworth certainly rose to the occasion and attacked the race from the onset.
His first 100m split (butterfly leg) was inside his PB, yet he only turned in seventh place as the rest of the field had set an unusually fast pace.
The furious pace set by those around him started to show as Halksworth began to dismantle the field with an impressive and powerful backstroke section.
With an equally strong breast-stroke leg the Commonwealth Youth Games hopeful found himself in the bronze medal position – a medal he secured in a time of 4.42.79, with a fast and ever improving final 100m freestyle.Halksworth and fellow AIB Tiger Damien Boucheré were competing in the fifth leg of the Vittel Cup and both featured on the opening night in the men’s 50m breast-stroke.
Although not considered sprinters the boys raced to respectable times in this non-Olympic event – good warm up for the following two days of action.On the Saturday Boucheré qualified for the B Final of the men’s 200m breast-stroke and Halksworth the B final of the men’s 200m back.
Both swimmers improved on their times set earlier in the day to finish third.Halksworth’s strong showing was a sure sign of good things to come in the 400m IM.
He scraped into the A Final as the slowest qualifier from the morning heats and was placed in an outside lane for the penultimate event of the night.
An unforgettable bronze was his reward.The pair returned to the Rennes Olympic Swimming Centre the following day to continue their assault, with Boucheré featuring in the 100m breast-stroke and 200m IM while Halksworth went in the men’s 100m back, 100m breast-stroke and 200m IM.The boys were less than satisfied with their performances in the 100m sprint events, but their times could be considered respectable given that they were both racing in their least favoured events.With Boucheré primed to make amends for narrowly missing the final of the 400m IM, the build up to the 200m IM began in earnest.
Both swam within their planned targets in the heats to secure places alongside each other in the B Final – the event that was to bring the Rennes leg of the competition to a close.Again Halksworth produced a dominant backstroke and breastroke leg to win in a new personal best time of 2.14.48.
Fellow Tiger Boucheré finished with a strong freestyle to secure third in 2.15.91.Both swimmers resume training for the Hampshire championships in Southampton in four weeks time where they will hope to continue their good form.The Olympic trials will be held in Sheffield in six weeks.
