Published: Thursday, 2nd July, 2009 1:00pm

Double gold for Windsor swimmer

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Swimming

WINDSOR swim star Simon Burnett claimed double gold at the weekend at the British Gas Scottish National Championships to book his place on the plane to Rome next month, writes Chris Cottrell.

The 26-year-old, who lives and trains in Arizona, won gold in the 50m and 100m freestyle events in Glasgow and will now head to the Rome World Championships in July.

Burnett held off Grant Turner and Ben Hockin in the 100m freestyle, winning in a time of 49.19 seconds, while the Windsor-ace repeated the trick in the 50m, pipping Charlie Turner and Craig Gibbons to top spot on the podium.

And Burnett heaped praise on his fellow Brits for pushing him all the way in Glasgow as he bounced back from his British Championship disappointment in Sheffield in March.

'It"s not been a perfect meeting for me by any means,' said Burnett. 'All week I seem to have been missing the targets I"d set me before the competition.

'These guys really stepped up and it made me step up as well. All credit to them for swimming that quickly throughout the week because it got the best out of me.

'That swim has definitely exorcised a few demons from Sheffield. It was definitely running through my mind as I was standing on the blocks but it didn"t even enter my mind during my finals.'

Burnett will swim in the 50m in Rome and the Wycombe-born swim star is delighted to finally book his berth in the Eternal City.

'Technically I was so much better than in Sheffield and I"m really pleased to be swimming an individual event in Rome now,' added Burnett.

'This British team goes from strength to strength every year and everyone seems to be youngsters in there now.

'But it"s great to be part of the team and hopefully I can give some of these younger guys the benefits of my experience.'

The nation"s leading energy supplier, British Gas is the Principal Partner of British Swimming, supporting the sport at all levels: "From paddling pool to podium". For more information visit www.britishswimming.org.