Announcements from the British Trials indicate that National team breaststrokers Richard Webb and Lowri Tynan have donned their competitive suits for the last time.
Tynan specialized in sprint breaststroke events and swam to a spot on the 2009 World Championships team, posting a personal best and Welsh record time of 1:08.30 in the 100m breaststroke heats, which put her on the British record-breaking 400 medley relay that just finished out of the medals in 4th. As well, she swam in the NCAA for three years for Florida State, her best individual result as a Nole coming as a freshman in 2008 at the ACC championships, where she finished 2nd in the 100y breaststroke (1:02.25).
It's been an uphill climb since 2010 when a jaw problem plagued Tynan at the European Championships and subsequent surgeries kept her out of the water. In 2011, she missed qualifying for her first national team since 2009 by finishing seventh in the 100m breaststroke at British Trials, and tragically lost her mother to leukemia in July while taking a break from swimming.
She returned to the pool and found stability from her grief, resolving to give one final push at making the Olympic team. Unfortunately, there may have been too much work left to do and not enough time as she failed to advance to semi-finals, touching the wall one last time in a 1:12. She seems to be in pretty good spirits despite everything, tweeting
@lowritynan “Not gunna lie, disappointed with my 100, I know I'm better than that, but there you go. About to eat my way to oblivion and sweet retirement!”
Like Tynan, Richard Webb had his best performance came in 2009, breaking the English 200m breaststroke record which had stood for 17 years with a 2:10.75 at the World Champ trials in Manchester. Though his international performances have been erratic, he's been a domestic fixture since 2007, picking up silvers and bronzes at British Championships consistently ever since. Things were looking up as this year he finished third at the Austin Grand Prix in 2:13.51, and according to interviews Webb had given the British press, he felt his training couldn't have gone any better leading up to British Trials.
An Olympic berth unfortunately wasn't on the cards as he touched sixth in both breaststrokes, in 1:01.59 and 2:13.21 respectively. Webb also admitted that he had been without athlete funding for over six months telling the UK Gazette, “I've driven myself into the ground living off credit cards and overdrafts and I can't really afford to continue. If you look at the depth in this event in the sport there really isn't space on the team for me anymore. I just have to move on.”
He appeared equally as despondent post-race when he tweeted,
@RichardWebb87 “Not the performance I was hoping for or the one I know I am capable of, disappointing and a little bit soul destroying
“
“Richard maintains a website at http://www.richwebb.co.uk where in his About Me section, he details his plans to pursue a career in law after swimming. It may take a little while longer than it took Tynan to come to terms with, but in time, Webb will also embrace the retired life and find that the time management skills and discipline honed from years in the pool will prove invaluable in the business world.