SOUTHPORT’S Fran Halsall insists her best is yet to come after guiding Britain to seventh in the 4x100m freestyle relay final on the opening day of the World Championships in Rome.
The 19-year-old played the starring role for the British team during the heats, completing her opening leg in a personal best time of 53.02seconds and setting a new Championship record in the process.
However, the personal bests didn’t stop there with Halsall’s heroics in the heats inspiring her team-mates to a new British relay record of 3:37.02minutes on the way to qualifying fifth fastest.
The Southport flyer failed to improve her personal time in the final but was still influential as her and team-mates – Caitlin McClatchey, Katherine Wyld and Amy Smith – lowered their time to 3:36.99minutes.
And Halsall – who guided the same relay team to seventh during the Olympics last summer – admitted she has barely scratched the surface of her World Championships best in Italy.
“It has been a great day – I was really pleased with the morning swim – to get a British record for the team and then myself personally was great,” said Halsall – whose leg in the heats was the third fastest this year.
“Everyone swam great and it was really enjoyable.”
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