Top T&T swimmer George Bovell is content with his performances at the recently-concluded Belgian Open Swimming Championships at the Olympic Swimming Pool, Wezenberg, Antwerp.
But the 2004 Athens Olympic bronze medallist, who secured a second silver in the Men's 50m backstroke on the final day of the three-day meet on Sunday, admitted there is more fine-tuning to be done.
Contacted yesterday, Bovell said: "I am content with the results, however they show that there is a lot of work still to do. The good news is that there is plenty of time".
The 31-year-old Bovell, who moved his base from the University of Michigan to the ADN Swim Project in Italy in February, clocked 25.70 seconds, coming in behind ADN clubmate Francois Heersbrandt who won in 25.50 seconds with Greece's Michail Kondizas securing bronze in 25.81.
It was the second silver medal for Bovell after he also gained silver in the Men's 50-metre breaststroke in a new national record on Friday.
The others in the final were Nils Van Audekerke (26.64), Sjobbe Luyten (26.89), Maxime Andrien (26.98), Lander Hendrickx (27.18) and Michele Ratti (27.27)
The 2013 Barcelona FINA World Long Course Men's 50m free bronze medallist also placed fifth in the Men's 50-metre free. Bovell, the four-time T&T First Citizens Sportsman of the Year, was also listed to swim the 100-metre freestyle Sunday, but withdrew to focus on the backstroke.
Bovell was pleased overall with the performances in Belgium. "This last weekend was a good indicator of where I am in my season. I went seeking to find out my faults, which will be the road map to achieving my goals this summer, and now getting there lies in overcoming them. My details were good, my stroke tempo was slow however, which I believe is due to not being as explosive, as I (will) need to be later this summer. (This) probably in part due to my current workload," Bovell assessed.
Bovell continued, "The next time I compete at the beginning and middle of June, I intend to chip away at the tenths of a second to get down to 21 (seconds) by the Pan Am Games and then even faster to peak for (FINA) World Champs the first week of August".
Next up for Bovell, the 2013 FINA World Short Course Men's 100-metre IM bronze medallist, is the Tropheo Citta in Rome, Italy (June 1-3); followed by the Sette Colli, also in Rome (June 12-14); Trofeo Rossini (June 19-21); Treviso Swim Cup (June 26-27) and French Open Championship in Vichy, July 4-5.