HANNAH Miley claimed her second medal of the 2012 World Short Course Championships with a 200m Individual Medley bronze in Istanbul on Saturday.
The Swindon-born 23-year old, who won 400m Individual Medley gold on the opening day in Turkey, clocked 2:07.12 for Britain’s fourth medal of the championships.
Olympic champion Ye Shiwen (2:04.64) and European champion Katinka Hosszu (2:04.72) pulled clear to take gold and silver but Miley steadily battled her way through the rest of the field to claim bronze after turning fifth at the half-way stage.
And while she set a British record 2:06.21 to win silver at last month’s European Short Course Championships, Miley insisted she only held slim hopes of making the podium in the 200m IM.
“I’m so chuffed to come away with a medal there,” said Miley.
“That was probably going to be one of the hardest races here – I thought maybe I’d be fourth at the best, maybe fifth or sixth.
“I was hoping to do the same time I did at Euros because that felt absolutely amazing. But I can’t knock getting a sneaky bronze – it’s better than nothing!
“I’ve been trying to work on my backend speed. Ye Shiwen can do it so it’s something we’ve been trying to strive for to show it’s possible to come back really, really strong. It’s just a matter of how well you pace the front end.
“Those girls go out so hard and it’s a matter of hanging on for dear life and that’s what I did. My little arms and legs were working so hard on that last 50.”
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