2017 British Swimming C’ships Day 4 Finals Live Recap

2017 BRITISH SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, April 18th – Sunday, April 23rd
• Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield
• LCM
• Qualifying Times Analysis (for this meet)
• Qualifying Times Analysis (for 2017 World Championships GBR squad)
• Meet Site
• Psych Sheets
• Live Stream
• Live Results

*Note on Finals Session: The schedule of events will feature three finals – a senior final targeted at the World Championships, a Target Tokyo Final for potential swimmers at the World Junior Championships and Commonwealth Youth Games and a Junior Final for those looking to qualify for the European Junior Championships and European Youth Olympic Festival. For the purposes of this article’s context, we will be reporting on the ‘senior final’ of each event.

WOMEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE – FINAL

• FINA A – 2:11.53
• British 1st place standard – 2:07.17
• British consideration standard – 2:09.47
• The Podium:
  • Rosie Rudin – 2:09.55
  • Jessica Fullalove – 2:10.05
  • Charlotte Evans – 2:10.35

Sheffield’s own Rosie Rudin stunned the field tonight, winning the women’s 200m backstroke in a personal best of 2:09.55.  Rudin already showed hints of fearlessness in the women’s 400m IM, where she charged out front in the first half, only to fade out to 4th in the race overall. But, tonight, Rudin simply swam with abandon, clocking the only sub-2:10 time of the night.

2:11.66 was Rudin’s career fastest headed into these championships, but she hacked about 2 seconds off of that mark to establish herself as the title winner in front of her home crowd. Post-race, Rudin stated, “I did not expect to go that fast. I knew I had it in me, but I’m shocked.” Rudin’s time actually checks in as the 6th fastest British performance of all time, however, remarkably, she’s outside both the British 1st place and British consideration standards.

Silver tonight went to Jessica Fullalove for the 2nd consecutive year. Last year Fullalove’s time of 2:11.20 fell 2nd to Lizzie Simmonds, who swam the 100m event earlier this meet, but not the 200m.  Bronze tonight went to 19-year-old Charlotte Evans who notched a new personal best of 2:11.49

MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – FINAL

• FINA A – 52.29
• British 1st place standard – 51.22
• British consideration standard – 51.75
• The Podium:
  • James Guy – 51.52
  • Adam Barrett – 52.13
  • Duncan Scott – 52.91

21-year-old James Guy won the men’s 100m butterfly for the 2nd consecutive year, clocking the only 51-point time of the talented field. After already scoring gold in the 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly races here in Sheffield, Guy cranked out a swift 51.52, crushing his winning time of 52.15 from last year. In fact, tonight’s outing was even faster than his personal best of 51.78 clocked in the Olympic prelims last summer, representing just the 2nd time he’s been under 52 seconds in the event.

Among the British performances of all time, Guy’s sits 2nd only behind a supersuited record of 51.41 from Michael Rock from 2009. He also is now ranked 3rd in the world this season. However, his time does fall short of the automatic standard, but within the consideration mark. Given the fact he’s been within consideration standards in his previous two wins, Guy should be safe to race this event individually or at the very least as the butterflyer on the medley relay in Budapest.

Finishing on the podium for another year is runner-up Adam Barrett, who touched in 52.13, while red-hot University of Stirling swimmer Duncan Scott collected the bronze for his 3rd medal of these championships. Last night Scott became Britain’s first-ever 100m freestyler under 48-point (47.90) and he earned his first 100m butterfly under the 53-second threshold tonight in 52.91.

WOMEN’S 100 FREESTYLE – FINAL

• FINA A – 54.90
• British 1st place standard – 53.08
• British consideration standard – 54.25
• The Podium:
  • Freya Anderson – 54.35
  • Siobhan-Marie O’Connor – 54.37
  • Ellie Faulkner – 54.89

16-year-old Freya Anderson denied Siobhan-Marie O’Connor a 3rd consecutive title in this event by just .02 of a second. Entering tonight’s race, Anderson held the top seed in a quick 54.40, a new British age record and a notch on the all-time list as Britain’s 5th fastest performer.

Tonight, Anderson trailed the pack in 6th place at the 50m mark, but turned on the heat and back-halfed the sprint to collect her first senior gold in a monster 54.35 for the teen. Remarkably, Anderson was last year’s Junior final, so in one year’s time the Ellesmere Titan swimmer rocketed up to top the senior ranks in this primetime event.

O’Connor was only .09 behind Anderson this morning and fell just shy of the youngster once again, finishing in 54.37 for silver. The outing represents O’Connor’s 6th fastest performance of her career. The Bath swimmer already scored silver in the 50m freestyle event to Anna Hopkin, but has her primary event, the 200m IM coming up later in the meet.

Ellie Faulkner, the women’s 200m freestyle gold medalist at this meet, took bronze in 54.89. That’s her quickest effort by over a second.

MEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE – FINAL

• FINA A – 2:11.11
• British 1st place standard – 2:07.73
• British consideration standard – 2:10.52
• The Podium:
  • Ross Murdoch – 2:09.15
  • James Wilby – 2:10.01
  • Andrew Willis – 2:10.52

2014 Commonwealth Games champion Ross Murdoch is back on top in this event after placing 3rd at both the 2015 and 2016 British Championships. Letting Charlie Attwood and Andrew Willis lead through the first 75m or so, Murdoch hit the gas and didn’t look back, ultimately touching in 2:09.15, the only time under the 2:10 threshold.

The 23-year-old’s 2:07.30 from Glasgow in 2014 remains as the British national record, but Murdoch seemed pleased with his effort tonight, saying post-race that he ‘was in a bad way after Rio’ and had to take some time off. His time tonight falls within the consideration standard, as did his 1:00.00 silver medal-winning 100m breaststroke time here in Sheffield, so we’ll see how coaches discretion comes into play with Murdoch’s potential roster spots.

James Wilby matched his own personal best from 2016 with his 2:10.01 time tonight, while last year’s gold medalist in this event, Andrew Willis, was downgraded to bronze this time around. 2:10.52 is what Willis was able to produce against this tight field. Willis was the 4th place finisher in Rio with his monster time of 2:07.78.