Hickman flies into his place in history

14 April 2012

James Hickman has become the first swimmer to win consecutive gold medals at five World Short Course Championships.

The Manchester star has dominated the men's 200metres butterfly event over the past seven years with golds in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 and has now added 2004 to his list of honours.

Although his victory in Indianapolis is unprecedented, the 28-year-old Briton is under no illusion his task would have been more difficult if it had not been for the withdrawal through injury of his main rival, Olympic sensation Michael Phelps of the US.

However, rather than take comfort from Phelps's omission from the event, Hickman was left slightly disappointed not to have faced Phelps, who won six gold medals at the Atens Olympics, as he felt the race would have been a highlight of the championships.

Hickman still had the rest of the field to beat, as well as the pressure he had placed on himself before the final, and he did so in a time of 1min 53.41sec, ahead of Romanian Ioan Gherghel in 1min 54.06sec.

"I'm bouncing right now but number five was the most nervewracking race of my whole career," Hickman said. "I think the more you win, the more the pressure mounts.

"The first one is easy in comparison because you're the hunter and not the hunted. It's better to chase than to be chased.

"There was a lot of pressure and weight on my shoulders which has been lifted. I think overall I did pretty well.

"I know Michael [Phelps] wasn't here but it would have been a good race if he had been. I was always here to try to take control of that event but it's just a shame we couldn't race each other.

"The last 25metres was hard. My arms felt like lead and I felt like I had no strength left. There was no one around me, and maybe if there was it would have been a faster time."

Despite his victory, Hickman announced he had planned to retire even before he had collected the most precious of all his gold medals.

"I enjoy what I do. It can be the best feeling in the world. All those people watching and cheering you on, it's just fantastic, but I will be retiring at the end of this year because I want to stop while I'm at the top," Hickman said. "It's been a great year. I've got the European Short Course Championships in Vienna to go and then I'll call it a day, hopefully with one more good performance."

Britain's small squad of five concluded their championships with five medals in total.

Alison Sheppard was hoping to add to the tally but in a strong field missed out on a medal by only 0.05sec when she finished sixth in the women's 50m freestyle.

Even so, Britain finished third in the medal table, with two golds and three silves. The US topped the list with 41 medals (21 gold), followed by Australia with 29 medals (seven gold).

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Hickman flies into his place in history

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