FOUR Salisbury swimmers dived onto the national stage for the European Masters Swimming Championships.

Phil Muspratt, Rob Langan, Sharon Allen and Chris Jessup were among a record number of swimmers from across the continent who were eyeing up gold.

But it was a below-par meet for Jones and Co sponsored Muspratt (30-34 years), despite being the highest-placed Salisbury swimmer.

His best result arrived in the 50m freestyle, claiming eighth spot. He also finished 12th in 50m backstroke and 14th in 100m freestyle.

He said: "When you come to the big target meet at the end of the season you want to perform and I'm very disappointed that I didn't."

"One encouraging sign is that my personal bests would've seen me medal in my favoured events."

Langan secured a tenth place finish in the in the 25-29 years 100m backstroke where he recorded a season's best time.

He also clocked personal best times in the 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle.

"Overall the training went to plan and I raced well," he said.

Also competing at the championships, at her first international meet, was Allen (55-59).

She came 23rd and 19th in the 50m and 100m backstroke, respectively.

Talking of her debut, she said: "I feel that's not a bad effort considering I haven't trained much recently and I am therefore quite satisfied with my positions overall. It was a great experience competing in the Olympic pool," Allen said.

Chris Jessup, 70-74 yrs, competed in three events, he finished in 11th place in the 200m butterfly, 13th position in the 200m breaststroke and ninth in the 200m backstroke.