Selston's Molly Renshaw takes Commonwealth Games silver

Molly Renshaw won a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke on the third day of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Molly Renshaw with her silver medal. Photo: Twitter/@swim_englandMolly Renshaw with her silver medal. Photo: Twitter/@swim_england
Molly Renshaw with her silver medal. Photo: Twitter/@swim_england

The Selston swimmer dug deep to finish in 2:23.28 as South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker took hold of the race from the middle lane on the way to victory in 2:22.02.

And after pipping Wales’ Chloe Tutton at the wall, Renshaw was thrilled to have gone one better than a bronze medal in Glasgow in the 2014 Games.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 21-year-old, who remained in the top three throughout the race, said: “I haven’t been on the podium since 2016 so it’s amazing to get back up there – it’s such a good feeling.

“Coming into a race like that the time you do at the end is completely irrelevant. It’s about getting out there and handling the pressure.

“There are some who can’t do that so it’s about sticking to your race plan and swimming with blinkers on. If you can do that then hopefully you make the podium and that’s what I tried to do tonight.

“I could see Chloe (Tutton) ahead of me at 150m. I know she has a strong back 50m but it’s not always my strength so I’ve been working on that so much in training. I stuck to my long, strong stroke and hoped it would get me that medal.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Renshaw returned to the pool on Sunday to compete in the heats for her second and final event, the 100m breaststroke, but her time of 1.09.22 wasn’t enough to qualify for the final.

Renshaw will now have her sights firmly set on the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, having been a finalist in the Rio 2016 games before then going on to become world champion in the 200m breaststroke at the FINA World Swimming Championships (short-course) later that year in Canada.