Proud and Renshaw Crank Out More Records At ASA Winter Meet

Last night’s first session of finals at the 2015 ASA National Winter Meet already saw 3 British National Records bite the dust.  Lizzie Simmonds, Imogen Clark and Ben Proud all wrote their names into the record books on the way to claiming titles in Ponds Forge, Sheffield.  The trend continued tonight, with additional records broken and best times logged across the board.

Day 1 Recap
Meet Results

First up was Molly Renshaw, who demolished the British short course record in the women’s 200m breaststroke.  Renshaw’s podium-topping time of 2:18.44 laid waste to countrymate Hannah Miley’s record of 2:20.61 that’s been on the books since 2009. Additionally, Renshaw’s time would have taken gold at the recent European Short Course Championships in Netanya, Israel, beating Belgian Fanny Lecluyse’s mark of 2:18.49.

Renshaw’s time now sits as the 2nd-swiftest in the world this season, only behind that of Melanie Margalis (USA) from last weekend’s Duel in the Pool.

Of her personal best and national record-breaking performance, Renshaw exclaimed, “I’m so happy with that swim! I really wanted to break the British record but I wasn’t expecting to swim that quick.I think it’s important to be strong from the very beginning of the season and hopefully that will keep going and translate into the long course meets next year. That swim has given me a lot of confidence, especially with my turns which have been a big focus for me and I need to apply tonight’s success to long course racing in the spring.”

Sprinting machine Ben Proud doubled up on his 50m free National Record last night by taking the 100m freestyle record as well.  Proud charged to the wall tonight in a time of 46.69 to slash .06 of a second off of the previous record of 46.75 held by now-retired swimmer Adam Brown since 2009.

Proud’s best time entering this meet was 47.59, so the Plymouth Leander athlete dropped just under a second off that to beat the field and take the gold. At just 21-years-old, Proud was the only competitor tonight to dip beneath the 47-second threshold, and his time would have earned bronze at the European Short Course Championships.

Additional Winners:

• Aimee Willmott claimed her 3rd medal of the meet, winning the women’s 800m freestyle in a time of 8:19.81.
• Loughborough University’s Fraser Minnican snagged the men’s 400m IM win in a time of 4:10.50, a career-best.
• Rachael Kelly earned the women’s 50m butterfly gold in a personal best time of 26.01.
• The men’s 50m backstroke went to Loughborough’s Joe Elwood in 24.40.
• City of Derby’s Sarah Vasey doubled up on her 50m breaststroke win from yesterday with a gold in the women’s 100m IM. She registered a time of 1:01.84 for the victory.
• The Loughborough men’s 800 freestyle relay took the event in a time of 7:05.01, while the City of Sheffield women snagged gold in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:37.63.