Cassie Wild richer for Commonwealth experience
Cassie Wild was making her maiden international appearance at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast and for a young backstroker she could not have asked for more daunting opposition.
Between them Canada’s Kylie Masse and Australia’s Emily Seebohm took gold over the 50, 100 and 200m backstroke as the world’s two best backstroke swimmers went toe-to-toe.
Aged just 17, Wild was up against them in the shorter two distances, reaching the final of the 50m back on Tuesday where she came fifth in a time of 28.18.
That swim came just as the heavens opened, and Wild admitted her trip Down Under had been an eye-opening experience.
She said: “For me this is my first international meet so a lot of it was just to learn from it and gain experience. I’ve never raced outside, I’ve never raced in the rain, I thought I dealt with it quite well. But I know there are ways I can improve.
“It started pouring in the 50 final but also in the 100 semi-final, so I’ve got it the only times it’s rained.
“This is the first time I’ve swum outdoors but doing the training camp before really helped. That was three weeks out in the sun. Still, when you race, it’s completely different. I didn’t realise it can affect the race so much. But after the first swim I had an idea of what it was going to be like and I learned from that.
“I can take quite a lot from this. I know I need to work on my starts and my breakouts and I can take that with me.
“You can learn from them (Masse and Seebohm), you need to be better than that to win.”
By finishing fifth in the 50m backstroke, Wild was second of the British entries in the event, which puts her in line for a place in the British team at August’s European Championships, which will be announced on Wednesday.
For that she will be back in British waters, with the event taking place in Glasgow, and Wild is keen to put what she learned in Australia into practice.
She added: “We’ll find out tomorrow about the Europeans, so I’m hoping. There were four of us in the final but hopefully I’ve done enough to get there.
“Hopefully that will be better because it’s indoors. I’ve swum in Glasgow before but it was quite a while ago, I think back in 2016, but it was good and I like that pool.”
