Great Britain's Abbie Wood has admitted that she did not expect to walk away from the women's 400m individual medley at the European Games in Baku with a gold medal.
The 16-year-old wrote her name into the history books at the Baku Aquatics Centre this afternoon, becoming the first ever swimming gold medallist at the European Games.
Having qualified for the final with the quickest time, she proceeded to shave more than three seconds off that in the medal event itself, beating out Italy's Ilaria Cusinato to the top prize in a performance the Brit rated "10 out of 10".
After the event, Wood spoke to Sports Mole about her surprise triumph in Azerbaijan, which she labelled the clear highlight of her career so far.
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Congratulations Abbie, you're a gold medallist at the European Games - how does that feel?
"Incredible, I can't believe it!"
Not only that, but you're the first swimming champion in European Games history - does that make it even more special?
"Yeah, definitely. Setting the bar, and hopefully high."
How would you rate your performance in that final?
"I don't think I could have put any more into the race. It hurt so much, and I'm definitely pleased - 10 out of 10."
You reached the final fairly comfortably as the fastest qualifier as well. Did that give you extra confidence that you could go on to get gold?
"It probably gives you extra nerves because you're more expected to win. It gives you more confidence thinking that you have the best chance out of all of the others, but it definitely sets the nerves in more."
Coming into today, did you expect to walk out with a gold medal?
"No, definitely not. I thought everyone would step it up much more, and because the heats hurt so much I didn't think I could drop it by another three-and-a-bit seconds."
Where does this triumph rank in your career so far?
"Definitely the top!"
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You dropped down to third at one point on the backstroke - were you aware that you'd been overtaken?
"Yeah, it seems that happens every time. I'm pretty used to it. That's probably the best backstroke I've had. It might not look like it on video when you're watching it compared to everyone else, but it was probably my best one."
You've also got Team GB's swimmers off to a winning start. Was that important for you too?
"Yeah, it definitely sets the team off in a good spirit so hopefully they'll carry that on."
How is the feeling within the team?
"Definitely [positive], there's no negativity around at all."
You have a few more events to come this week - how are you feeling ahead of those?
"I've got three more - that was probably my best event but hopefully this will keep them going strong. And hopefully a lot more PBs, and a lot more finals, and some more medals, I don't know!"
Barney Corkhill
