Team GB swimmer Layla Black has admitted that she needs to improve on her finish after coming fourth in the final of the women's 100m breaststroke at the European Games this afternoon.
Black, who was also the fourth-fastest qualifier for the medal event, recorded a personal best time of 1:09.26 at the Baku Aquatics Centre, but missed out on a podium finish to Russia's Daria Chikunova.
The 14-year-old, who won a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke earlier this week, was unhappy with her display but vowed to learn from her mistakes.
"It was a PB, but I'm a bit upset. Fourth is quite hard, but it's alright. I thought I could have a chance [of medalling], but I was going in fourth on paper so hoped for the best and would see what would happen," she told Sports Mole.
"I took confidence [from my 200m bronze]. I knew how the other girls pace their races, so I knew how to play the 100m from that. I obviously did well getting a bronze, so it was good going into the 100m. My finish is really bad. It's one thing I'm really bad at, finishes and starts, so I just tried to keep it going until the finish but my finish wasn't that good so that's where I lost it.
"I watch back the races and I'm like 'oh God, why did I do that? Why did I take another stroke?' But when you're racing you don't really see what happens so it's just a matter of taking it into training and seeing where I can improve for the next race. When you're coming to the wall, you need to count how many strokes it's going to take you to approach, and I always miscount, so I always end up doing an extra one and going too slow."
Black's teammate Emma Cain was also involved in the final, coming home in fifth place.
Barney Corkhill
