Consistency key for Buckingham ahead of Anfi Challenge Mogán-Gran Canaria

Great Britain’s Lucy Buckingham has highlighted a need for consistency in her early season form as she prepares to take the startline at Anfi Challenge Mogán Gran Canaria on Saturday.

The fast swimming 30-year-old enjoyed a successful 2021 campaign with a trio of middle distance victories including Challenge Samorin, also known as The Championship, and is eager to bring that could form into 2022.

“Preparations have been going well,” she said ahead of the race in Anfi del Mar, “it has just been like ticking sessions off at the moment and just getting consistency.”

“It’s not long since I finished the 2021 season in Daytona, and then I decided to start the new season in Lanzarote – just because I was healthy and wanted to see where I was at – kind of the same situation for this race.”

In a field containing last year’s victor Nicola Spirig – albeit coming off a bike accident in February – Buckingham was cautious when discussing the possibility of a performance that could rocket her into Collins Cup consideration.

Buckingham is currently 24th in the PTO rankings, the 12th ranked European behind Spirig.

“That would be amazing,” admitted Buckingham, “but I think realistically for me I know where I am right now, I don’t want to go in with too many expectations.

“I mean I’ll give the best performance I possibly can, but I’m trying to just be a little bit more grounded and just go through the process of doing everything right – but it would be amazing if I could get in it.”