Wong's double gold in Sheffield show (From Bournemouth Echo)

Wong's double gold in Sheffield show

9:43pm Wednesday 4th August 2010 in

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ALAN Wong is the toast of Dorset swimming after powering to his first national titles at the ASA National Age Group Championships in Sheffield.

The 12-year-old arrived at Ponds Forge pledging to go one better than last year, when he won silver and bronze on his debut at national level.

And he wasted no time in delivering on his promise.

The first finals session of the five-day championships was less than half-an-hour old when the Ferndown Otters youngster became a national champion for the first time.

After qualifying second fastest for the 12yrs 100m backstroke final in 1:06.26, he swam almost two seconds quicker in the final to take the gold in 1:04.55.

Only Hatfield’s Martyn Walton was within 1.4sec of Wong, taking the silver in 1:04.78.

The result was sweet revenge for the Ferndown swimmer after last year, when Walton deprived him of the 11yrs title.

Wong’s time this year would also have placed him fifth in the 13yrs final.

Next up were the 200m butterfly and 100m freestyle and Wong reached the finals of both, placing fifth and ninth respectively in 2:25.27 and 1:01.91.

But two of his best three events were still to come and both added to his medal tally.

He had to settle for silver in the 200m backstroke in 2:18.33 as Walton took his revenge with a winning time of 2:17.45.

But there was no-one else within six seconds of either of them.

In the 100m butterfly, Wong looked the coolest kid in town as he qualified only fourth fastest for the final in 1:07.00.

But if his rivals thought he was there for the taking, they must have got a shock as he turned almost a second clear in the final in 29.89.

The chasing pack closed the gap in the second 50 but Wong held them off to claim his second gold in 1:04.91, just 0.04sec ahead of runner-up Matthew Stevenson of Biddulph.

Wong said: “I choked on a mouthful of water halfway down the second length and was worried I was going to lose the gold.

“I would certainly have been faster without that but I managed to hang on to win.”

He added: “I’m pleased to win two gold medals. But I missed an opportunity to beat Martyn Walton again in the 200 backstroke. I should have gone faster on the third 50.”

No other eastern Dorset swimmer won a medal, but there were final placings aplenty.

Bournemouth Dolphins’ Jasmine Holmes came fifth in her nationals debut in the 11yrs 1500m freestyle in 19:35.65 and ninth in the 800m in 10:06.10.

Brother Jamie Holmes was also mixing it in the higher echelons, finishing sixth in the 12yrs 200m breaststroke in 2:48.48 and seventh in the 100m in 1:17.44.

Jack Burton and diver-turned-swimmer Kiana Hooshmand also reached 200m breaststroke finals for Dolphins, Burton claiming eighth place in the 14yrs boys’ showdown in 2:34.13, Hooshmand placing 10th in the 12-year-old girls’ event in 2:56.11.

Team-mate Tom Kingham qualified for his first national final ninth fastest in the 11yrs 200m freestyle, then swam 1.6sec quicker to finish seventh in 2:18.76.

He was not far away from three other 10-swimmer finals, coming 11th, 14th and 16th respectively in the 100m freestyle (1:05.12) and 200 and 400m individual medley (2:40.19 and 5:39.41).

Ferndown’s Luke Stuart was another to make a final in his first nationals, taking eighth place in the 11yrs 100m breaststroke in 1:24.35 as well as 17th in the 200m (3:02.91).

Fellow Otter Noah Vides was 19th in the 13yrs 200m breaststroke (2:46.07).

Dolphins’ Dan Speers, disadvantaged by being at the younger end of his age group, was unlucky to miss out on finals.

He came 11th in both the 13yrs 100 and 200m breaststroke in 1:15.55 and 2:41.43 and 13th in the 200m medley in 2:27.78.

Harry Thorpe (Dolphins) was 16th in the 14yrs 100m freestyle (56.32) and 22nd in the 200m free (2:07.17).

Poole’s Todd Price, whose 2009 nationals were wrecked by swine flu, came 14the and 21st in the 13yrs 200 and 100m butterfly (2:26.59 and 1:06.09). Team-mate Kiran Olenicz was 31st and 32nd in the 11yrs 200 and 100m backstroke (2:42.86 and 1:17.66).

Christchurch and New Milton Seagulls’ Andrew Botros, also making his first nationals appearance, came 14th, 18th and 24the respectively in the 11yrs 200m butterfly (2:43.35), 400m medley (5:39.58) and 200m butterfly (1:17.05).

In the relays the Bournemouth Dolphins quartet of Thorpe, Speers, Burton and Mikey Kingsley came 17th in the 4x200m freestyle and 24th in the 4x100m medley.

Splits were: 4x200m Thorpe 2:04.40, Kingsley 2:10.00, Speers 2:13.29, Burton 2:14.13 (team 8:41.82). 4x100m medley Kingsley (back) 1:10.47, Burton (breast) 1:14.00, Speers (fly) 1:09.00, Thorpe (free) 55.83 (team 4:29.30).

Other Dolphins results: 11yrs Jasmine Holmes 20th 200m freestyle 2:26.21. 14yrs Jack Burton 18th 100m breaststroke 1:15.89.