REBECCA ADLINGTON stormed to a second gold at the Olympic trials last night but acknowledged repeating the feat at the real thing in the summer might not be quite so straightforward.
Adlington added the 800m freestyle to her 400m victory earlier in the week at the British Gas Swimming Championships, meaning she will defend both her Beijing titles.
She now boasts world- leading times at both distances but plenty of international rivals who have her in their sights, notably the world champion over eight lengths, Federica Pellegrini, and Denmark's Lotte Friis at the longer distance.
Domestically Adlington has no peers, although Eleanor Faulkner, who grabbed the second Olympic qualifying slot, is a teenager whose star is on the rise.
"It's excruciating when you get out on your own," said Adlington, 23, after a race won by a 20-metre margin that was only really with the clock. It's so painful. I wanted to keep pushing myself to try to get a good time but I had no idea how quickly I was going. I'm very pleased with my time [8:18.54]."
Scotland's Hannah Miley finished more than 17 seconds behind Adlington in fourth place as she rounded off a busy week which included world-leading times in her signature medley events,.
While some team-mates plan a few days off, Miley is going straight back into the pool, with scheduled races in Amsterdam next weekend. She said: "I need to step up the metres and can't take the foot off the pedal now. I can rest after the Games."
Scottish hopes for medals on the final day in London appear to rest with the 1500m freestyle pair Martin Cremin and Lewis Smith who could battle it out for bronze behind the favourites for the Olympic spots, Daniel Fogg and David Davies.
n British Gas supports swimming at all levels. For more information visit www.Facebook.com/BGSwimming
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