Sky Scholar and swimmer Siobhan-Marie O'Connor on gold and Rio dreams
Friday 24 March 2017 12:57, UK
Britain's 4x100m medley swimmers were crashing through the waters in the Kazan arena, in the lead and closing on gold and a world record time.
Siobhan-Marie O'Connor stood on the side waiting for team-mate Adam Peaty, pondering the third leg in the race. Fran Halsall was ready for the fourth and final sprint.
Siobhan won bronze two days earlier in the 200m individual medley. But this was for gold. This may have been her third World Championships but the nerves and adrenaline were still surging through her...
Here are the words of the 19-year-old Sky Academy Sports Scholar on what happened next and how the following 60 seconds has boosted her confidence ahead of the Rio Olympics less than a year away...
Adam (Peaty) and Chris (Walker-Hebborn) gave us a brilliant lead which I was very grateful for. They swam amazingly and when I took over I was so nervous.
I could see we were in the front and I just had to hold it together. It was incredible. I was so chuffed with my split as Fran came through to win us gold. It was such a great evening. It was a top performance from the whole team.
I've never been part of a team where it’s felt this good. We've all been bouncing off each other and it’s great to be a part of it.
I'm over the moon with the gold medal. It was one of the best races I've ever been part of. It was just an incredible feeling. Last year we had a great event at the Europeans, although I wasn't in the team unfortunately.
We put a marker down and our world record didn't get ratified and then we saw it get beaten in the heats this week. It was our time! But to get that record back in the final (3 mins 41.71s) and to win the gold is incredible.
We were up against some really strong teams so it was such a great team performance.
Kazan seems like a very interesting place. The meet has been incredible though and it’s an amazing arena. It’s all gone pretty well. My mum and dad are here and that's such a comforting feeling knowing they are in the crowd and not far away and supporting me. That means a lot.
This is my third appearance at a World Championships. I was very young at my first one (15) and I was happy just to make the team. Then I went to Barcelona in 2013 after the London Olympics and it wasn’t the best.
Two years on and we've been top of the medals table which is an amazing feeling. The team has just pulled together and done so well. A year out from Rio and it’s a good place to be.
A lot of the guys in the team have said we won’t be taking our feet off the gas. This is just a stepping stone and this was the main focus for this year. We’ve really put a marker down and shown what we can do.
We all have things to improve on but we're now really looking forward to getting back in for next year.
Siobhan-Marie O'Connor is one of 12 athletes being supported through the Sky Academy Sports Scholarships scheme.
The Scholarships offer a programme of support tailored to each athletes specific requirements covering areas such as funding, media coaching, mentoring and wider developmental support.
Read here for full details of the scheme
