2 August 2009
David Davies, who was competing in his third final in eight days, finished in sixth place in the 1,500m freestyle final today on the last day of competition at the World Championship in Rome.

Davies, who claimed bronze in the last World Championships, has been concentrating on strength work in his training programme over the course of the past few months. And he demonstrated a marginally improved performance in the final than in yesterday’s heat.

Having qualified in a slightly disappointing seventh place, he was only too aware that he would face tough competition from Oussama Mellouli, the Tunisian Olympic champion, and Ryan Cochrane, the Olympic bronze medallist from Canada.

Davies started promisingly and looked in contention for a medal midway through the race. But Mellouli and Cochrane unerringly began to pull away from the rest of the field and, try as he might, the 24-year-old Welshman and Be Number 1 athlete was unable to keep up with the leaders. Davies eventually touched home in sixth in a time of 14:57.03.

“I knew it was going to be tough, but I just felt tired off the back of a hectic programme this week,” Davies said. “I did everything right in terms of resting ahead of the final. But at 700 metres, I just felt like I had nothing left.

“I have set myself challenges this year and I am achieving those and have done all week. I have improved my speed and strength, but it has had an impact early on in my 2012 plan in my 1,500m event.

“I don’t have the same endurance background that I usually have, but I knew that was the possibility this summer. What I need to do is to couple my speed and strength with my normal distance training and I’ll be back up there.”

The gold medal was won by Mellouli in a time of 14:37.28 with the silver going to Cochrane in 14:41.38. The bronze medal was taken by China’s Yang Sun in 14:46.84.

The 24-year-old, who won a bronze medal in the event at the 2004 Athens Olympics, could finish only sixth last year in Beijing, a result which prompted the Be Number 1 athlete to assess his future over the distance.

The Welshman claimed silver in the 10km open-water event in Beijing and looks to have an excellent chance of grabbing gold in the marathon discipline at London 2012. Whether he continues to compete in the 1,500m in the longer term could depend on how he fares in his bid to retain his Commonwealth title next year.

That is speculation for the future. What is certain in the here and now is that Davies has moved into his third final of the championships, following the 400m and 800m freestyle events.

However, his time was a somewhat disappointing 15:00.52, although only six contestants breached the 15- minute barrier - in contrast to Beijing, where 12 swimmers dipped under 15 minutes.

Davies said: "I've got a get-out-of-jail-free card. I felt really tired this morning. It has been a really long week and when I was warming up, I was a bit more lethargic, not my usual self. Not as bouncy or high tempo.

"As soon as the other two guys went, I just didn't have the energy to go with them and I was very anxious waiting for the results to come up at the end.

"But I've got in the final and I've got 36 hours to recover and do whatever I can do to pull something out of the bag tomorrow night."

Meanwhile, Be Number 1’s Ross Davenport was last night one of the quartet who lowered the British record for the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay, although their time of 7:05.67 was only good enough for seventh place in a high-class final.

Davenport swam the anchor leg in a race in which the American team prevailed in a new world record time of 6:58.55. Russia took the silver in 6:59.15 while the bronze went to Australia in 7:01.65.