2017 British Swimming C’ships Day 6 Prelims 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

MEN’S 200 FREESTYLE – PRELIM

• FINA A – 1:47.73
• British 1st place standard – 1:45.45
• British consideration standard – 1:46.58
• Top 8:
  1. Duncan Scott – 1:47.41
  2. Nicholas Grainger – 1:47.42
  3. Stephen Milne – 1:47.56
  4. Max Litchfield – 1:47.84
  5. James Guy – 1:48.06
  6. Calum Jarvis – 1:48.31
  7. Mark Szaranek – 1:48.95
  8. Cameron Kule – 1:48.96

The men’s 200m freestyle has shaped up to be the highly-touted marquee event we thought it would be, with the reigning world champion and several Olympians in on the action. James Guy produced a solid morning swim of 1:48.06 to comfortably move into the final, snatching the 5th seed. He won this event last year in a phenomenal 1:45.19, the 2nd best time of his career behind his 1:45.14 that won in Kazan.

Guy most recently raced this event at the Arena Pro Swim in Indianapolis, where he clocked a modest 1:47.11, indicative of where he was at training-wise at the time. Also in that final in Indy was 19-year-old Duncan Scott, in the running for MVP of this meet in Sheffield after having become the nation’s fastest man ever in the 100m freestyle event.

In addition to winning gold in that sprint, Scott has also collected a bronze in the 200m butterfly and 200m IM, giving this 200m freestyle final tonight a chance for the University of Stirling stud to earn his 4th medal. However, Scott’s personal best in this race rests as the 1:47.28 that earned him 4th place last year, which means he’ll need to produce the swim of his life to come close to the stiff 1:45.45 automatic qualifying time.

Perth City’s Stephen Milne is ready to rock in the 3rd seeded position in 1:47.56, as is 400m IM newly-minted national record holder Max Litchfield.  Don’t sleep on 7th seeded Mark Szaranek or 8th seeded Cameron Kurle either. Szaranek has clocked two monster personal bests already in the IM events here in Sheffield, while Kurle represented Britain’s youngest aquatic Olympian in Rio.

Of note, 2016 Olympian Dan Wallace finished in 11th place and out of the final, touching in 1:49.17.

Remember this event has relay implications beyond just trying for a shot to race the 200m freestyle individually in Budapest.

WOMEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE – PRELIM

• FINA A – 1:07.58
• British 1st place standard – 1:06.29
• British consideration standard – 1:06.90
• Top 8:
  1. Siobhan-Marie O’Connor – 1:06.91
  2. Imogen Clark – 1:07.76
  3. Sarah Vasey – 1:07.92
  4. Jocelyn Ulyett – 1:08.36
  5. Chloe Tutton – 1:08.70
  6. Georgina Evans – 1:09.29
  7. Corrie Scott – 1:09.36
  8. Molly Renshaw – 1:09.54

The 2016 Olympic silver medalist in the 200m IM wasted no time establishing herself as the woman to beat in this 100m breaststroke event on the final night of racing in Sheffield. Already owning the British national record in a quick 1:06.34, O’Connor fired off a swift 1:06.91 this morning to snag the top seed by well over 1/2 a second. That’s already faster than the 1:07.15 she notched at the 2016 edition of the meet to take gold in this event and rattle the world’s top 10 rankings this season.

But the field is stacked, containing two newly-minted breaststroke national record holders in Imogen Clark and Jocelyn Ulyett. Clark scored a new British record in the 50m breast on night 1 in a mighty 30.21, while Ulyett rocked Ponds Forge with a wicked fast 2:22.08 on night 2.

Clark’s career contains a personal fastest outing of 1:07.58 from just March in Edinburgh, so the Loughborough star is within .2 of that mark already. Her teammates Ulyett and Vasey are right behind in morning times of 1:08.36 and 1:07.92, respectively, with Vasey on the nation’s all-time fastest performers ever list already. Vasey’s 1:07.32 from the Euro Meet in Luxembourg checks her in as Britain’s 4th fastest performer ever.

MEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE – PRELIM

• FINA A – 1:58.55
• British 1st place standard – 1:55.89
• British consideration standard – 1:57.00
• Top 8:
  1. Luke Greenbank – 1:57.99
  2. Callum Barrett – 2:00.16
  3. Xavier Mohammed – 2:00.39
  4. Joseph Hulme – 2:00.96
  5. Craig McNally – 2:01.31
  6. Jay Lelliott – 2:01.35
  7. Daniel Cross – 2:01.89
  8. Perry Gardner – 2:02.37

Loughborough teammates Luke Greenbank and Callum Barrett took the top 2 seeds of the morning, but Greenbank is the man to beat headed into tonight’s final. Touching in 1:57.99, Greenbank earned the only sub-2-minute mark of the morning, already coming within .2 of what he produced to win this event last year.

Greenbank surged onto the international scene by crushing a 1:56.89 to take the men’s 200m backstroke at the 2015 inaugural European Games. At just 19, the athlete has been consistently placing at elite meets around the world, but has yet to come close to his personal best from Baku.

Xavier Mohammed of Cardiff already tasted the podium here in the form of a bronze medal behind Greenbank’s silver and Chris Walker-Hebborn’s gold in the 100m distance.

WOMEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – PRELIM

• FINA A – 58.48
• British 1st place standard – 56.81
• British consideration standard – 57.81
• Top 8:
  1. Alys Thomas – 58.49
  2. Rachael Kelly – 58.54
  3. Charlotte Atkinson – 58.55
  4. Siobhan-Marie O’Connor – 59.81
  5. Laura Stephens – 1:00.13
  6. Emily Large – 1:00.30
  7. Harriet West – 1:00.31
  8. Harriet Jones – 1:00.82

Last year’s final saw three women dip under the 59-second threshold and here we already have three women in the prelims achieve that feat. The field is led by 200m butterfly silver medalist at this meet, Alys Thomas, who touched in 58.49 to improve upon her own personal best of 58.66 that took gold in 2016.

Loughbourough duo Racheal Kelly and Charlotte Atkinson are also in the hunt, with Atkinson fueled by her 200m fly victory. With that win, Atkinson became the first-ever British champion originating from the Isle of Man. In fact, her time this morning of 58.55 surpasses her previous personal best and Isle of Man record of 58.68 from way back in 2014.

But Siobhan-Marie O’Connor is lurking as the 4th seed, securing her 2nd final of the night after having already notched the top seed in the 100m breaststroke. We’ll see if she holds both swims for tonight, or drops this fly in favor of her breaststroke title hope.

MEN’S 50 BUTTERFLY – PRELIM

• FINA A – 23.67
• British 1st place standard – N/A
• British consideration standard – N/A
• Top 8:
  1. Ben Proud – 23.60
  2. Adam Barrett – 23.81
  3. Adam Taylor – 24.32
  4. Calum Bain – 24.36
  5. Sean Campsie – 24.42
  6. Alasdair Wright – 24.64
  7. Brian O’Sullivan – 24.69
  8. Alexander Bowen – 24.73

Half of the 50m fly finalists heading into tonight train at Loughborough, further cementing the locale as a hotspot for athletes across all swimming disciplines. But, a Plymouth Leander man, who now trains in Turkey for Energy Standard, Ben Proud, holds the top seed as 1 of only 2 men under 24-seconds this morning.

Already stunning the world with a globe-topping 21.32 50m freestyle, a time that would have won gold in Rio, Proud touched in 23.60 this morning to lead Adam Barrett‘s 23.81 in this non-Olympic event.

WOMEN’S 1500 FREESTYLE – DECLARED WINNER

• FINA A – 16:32.04
• British 1st place standard – N/A
• British consideration standard – N/A
• The Podium:
  • Danielle Huskisson – 16:24.33
  • Alice Dearing – 16:51.63
  • Nikki Miller – 17:07.20

Britain’s 5k European Open Water champion Danielle Huskisson easily took the gold in the 1500m freestyle non-Olympic event, topping the field by well over 25 seconds. Runner-up status went to Alice Dearing in 16:52.63, while Nikki Miller touched in 17:07.20 for bronze.

For Huskisson, this morning’s outing represents her new personal best, overtaking a time of 16:25.19 the University of Stirling swimmer earned at last year’s British Summer Championships.