Great Britain swimmer Luke Davies has said that he is "really pleased" to have secured a bronze medal in a competitive final of the men's 200m breaststroke at the European Games.
The 18-year-old added to Team GB's medal haul from the pool by swimming a personal best time of 2:13.45 for third place behind Russia's Anton Chupkov and Kirill Mordashev, who took gold and silver respectively, at the Baku Aquatics Centre.
Shortly after the event, Davies spoke to Sports Mole about his "fantastic" achievement, competing against one of the world's best and the possibility of claiming more medals later in the week.
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So you're a bronze medallist, are you happy with that?
"Yeah, really pleased. I came here to try and get a medal and I did that so it's fantastic."
Were you always confident that you could come away with a medal?
"I knew my PB wasn't actually quick enough to get a medal, but I knew that I could get a PB because I'd been training really hard. I did that, and it got me a medal, so it's fantastic."
Chupkov, the gold medallist, was quite impressive. Was there ever any chance of catching him today?
"No. I'd seen his results before, so I knew that it would be really hard to catch him, but it's also a really good experience to swim next to him because I know he's one of the best in the world. So it was just really good to swim next to him."
Do you look to him and learn from him while you're swimming, and between swims as well?
"Yeah, I've looked at how he does the 200m breaststroke, and I've looked maybe at how I could change to what he does. But yeah, we're looking at that. He's just a fantastic swimmer."
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Were you happy with your time in that final?
"Yeah. I actually went quicker in the heat but to be honest, I thought there was more pressure tonight so I think that may have influenced it. But I'm not bothered to be honest - to come away with a medal was what I aimed for and I did, so that's great."
How do you feel you coped with that pressure?
"It was quite hard but I tried to control it, which I think I did. I just tried to use it in the race, to try and get me to swim faster, but to come away with bronze is great."
What does this do for your hopes for the rest of the week in the 50m breaststroke and 100m breaststroke?
"I'm not ranked as high [for those events] but that's given me a lot of confidence that I can swim good PBs in them as well, looking at the time I managed here. So it's hopefully looking good for those races."
How much did the success of the team yesterday inspire you?
"I saw how well the relay did and some of the individuals, and I wanted to be part of that and get a medal for the team as well. I really wanted to come here and get a medal, which I did, so I'm really pleased."
Are you optimistic of adding to the medal haul later this week?
"I don't know, to be honest. It's going to be close - it's always close, so we'll have to wait and see."
Barney Corkhill
