Monday 16 June 2014 10:14, UK
Siobhan-Marie O'Connor won 200IM gold in a championship record time at the Mare Nostrum meet in Barcelona this weekend.
The Sky Academy Sports Scholar has been in incredible form throughout 2014 with medals and personal bests having become almost a given of late.
Last weekend in Monaco was a rarity in that O'Connor failed to pick up a medal and, although the seemingly obligatory PBs provided ample consolation, the Bath swimmer seemed keen to make amends in Catalunya.
A bronze medal in the 200m freestyle on Saturday provided a very solid base as she finished behind Veronika Popova of Russia (1:56.20) and South Africa's Karin Prinsloo (1:57.36) in a time of 1:57.86.
It was in her favoured 200m individual medley on Sunday that O'Connor really made her mark, though. The 18-year-old made a flying start in the final to leave the field in her wake after the first 50m and she was more than a second and a half clear at the halfway stage.
O'Connor has spoken of needing to ensure she leaves enough in the tank for the final stages of the races and she certainly managed that in Barcelona. She maintained a ferocious pace right to the end to touch home in a championship record time of 2:09.63 - almost three seconds clear of her nearer challenger.
The time was another PB for O'Connor and sees her edge ever closer to Hannan Miley's British record of 2:09.46. With the teenager going from strength to strength it would come as no shock to see her send that record tumbling too in the next few months.
