2017 British Swimming C’ships Day 6 Prelims Recap

2017 BRITISH SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

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.

2016-2017 LCM WOMEN 100 BREAST

LillyUSA
KING
07/25
1.04.13*WR
2Yuliya
EFIMOVA
RUS1.04.3607/24
3Katie
MEILI
USA1.05.0307/25
4Ruta
MEILUTYTE
LTU1.05.0607/24
5Hiroko
MAKINO
JPN1.06.0501/14
6Jennie
JOHANSSON
SWE1.06.3004/11
7Jinglin
SHI
CHN1.06.4307/25
8Jessica
VALL MONTERO
ESP1.06.4404/08
9Molly
HANNIS
USA1.06.4703/04
10Reona
AOKI
JPN1.06.5302/18
View Top 26»

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.

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Gina UK
6 years ago

Ben Proud with a 22.80. His starts and underwater are incredible. He came up head and shoulders ahead of Barrett who isn’t a slouch on the start.

MichaelTran
6 years ago

Guy and Scott are very dangerous for team USA to win men’s 4x200m replay!!
With the absence of Dwyer this year, I expect so much on Mr.Haas and Mr.Conger and maybe Blake Pieroni. But Conger will face a very tough schedule at WC if he does a triple: 100 fly – 200fly -200 free

NYJOHN
Reply to  MichaelTran
6 years ago

GBR already beat USA in Kazan, and that was with Lochte.

E Gamble
Reply to  NYJOHN
6 years ago

I think we need to revisit the Rio splits and keep in mind how fast the NCAA 200 free event was for the Americans. Someone will step up to join Conner Dwyer, Hass, and Conger.

https://swimswam.com/relay-roundup-mens-4×200-freestyle-relay-split-breakdown/

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  E Gamble
6 years ago

Put Clark Smith in the mix and u got a fabulous 800 free Us relay .

E Gamble
Reply to  ERVINFORTHEWIN
6 years ago

Please stop him to USA relays. Clark Smith was 1:47 in the Olympic Trials. The 200 LCM is a sprint now.

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  E Gamble
6 years ago

i dont care about last year times – i like in 2017 !! sorry buddy

ThomasLurzFan
Reply to  NYJOHN
6 years ago

I think we are in a different situation now. The american relay in 2015 was the worst i can remember, Phelps didn’t compete and all their talents were too young to really have an impact. Now all of them are 2 years older and i expect at least 3 of them at 1:46 low or faster and the 4th guy also at sub 1:47, which will be enough for gold, unless Guy and Scott get into 1:45 low shape.

Pvdh
Reply to  NYJOHN
6 years ago

And Without Conger or Haas who last year were both good for 1:45 flat start. Haas also did a 1:44.1 split and I think Conger is capable of a 1:44 split at least. Those two can match Guy/Scott at the least and probably will be a ahead of them. Dwyer, Pieroni, Clark Smith…whoever else they have will be more than enough to win the relay.

E Gamble
Reply to  NYJOHN
6 years ago

The last world swimming event was Rio 2016 not Kazan 2015. I think you should judge the strength of the men’s 4 x 200 free by the latest results…not when you last won. ?

E Gamble
Reply to  MichaelTran
6 years ago

The absence of Conner Dwyer? Where did he go? He swam the 100 free prelims at Mesa.

ThomasLurzFan
Reply to  MichaelTran
6 years ago

But nothing to be scared about either …
Even if we assume that Guy and Scott will be able to swim 1:46 low and the other 2 british swimmers will swim 1:47 low, it should still be an open race at best from team GB’s perspective. On paper we might again have an open race between GB and the US + maybe China/Australia, but in the end i think that the US will find enough talent and depth to again take away the win.

Skoorbnagol
Reply to  MichaelTran
6 years ago

GBR are favourites even before this final.
Guy and Scott are going 1.44 from a roller
Grainger and Jarvis are both massive 6’6 and something to prove after missing team last year
Litchfield and Milne are super solid and consistent both great underwater and backend everything.
They have the tools for anything.
USA are the underdogs, Haas and conger are locks, but comparing yards to meters is pointless. Mark Szarenck (who’s also in this final) was past by litchfield on last 50 and I highly doubt he would of won NCAA at 200im.

Pvdh
Reply to  Skoorbnagol
6 years ago

“USA are the underdogs”

Word of warning. This NEVER ends well.

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Skoorbnagol
6 years ago

Wait a minute here , cool down , stay calm !!! Nothing is written in gold at this point ! The Us Trails will deliver much more evidence to put your predictions on point . I love Usa swimming and the Brits are doing a great job right now but never ever bet against the Us in any relays of any form or shape .

nod
Reply to  MichaelTran
6 years ago

This whole discussion makes Agnel’s 1.43.1 the best textile swim I have ever seen.

Emanuele
Reply to  nod
6 years ago

Agnel was simply wonderful between 2011 and 2012. One of my favorite swimmer of all time, so smooth.
Unfortunetly he had too much injury.

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Emanuele
6 years ago

and mind games going on inside …..

Dee
Reply to  MichaelTran
6 years ago

I’d add to this debate – 1.45 is not Scott’s ceiling. It may be Guy’s, but it isn’t Scott’s. He’ll go 1.44 flat between now & Tokyo.

Pvdh
Reply to  Dee
6 years ago

By that argument Haas’s ceiling is 1:43 low

Dee
Reply to  Pvdh
6 years ago

I feel Haas/Scott is becoming Peaty/Cordes debate of 2014 – I remember endlessly being told Cordes was the real deal on here. Haas has been in the worlds best system for a number of years now, is far more developed physically etc… Haas may well end up a second faster, but I struggle seeing any evidence that indicates Haas’ ceiling is 1s faster.

In the worlds of a Swimswam commenter, “he looks like a normal guy, then swims that fast” – I mean he (Scott) still has breakouts (acne), thats a sure sign he is still developing physically.

Pvdh
Reply to  Dee
6 years ago

Have you ever seen Townley Haas? And comparing Scott to Peaty is just going to bring you pain further down the road.

Dee
Reply to  Pvdh
6 years ago

I have – Are you saying he doesnt look more physically developed than Duncan Scott? There is a lot to gain for Haas, but Scott is remarkably undeveloped for 47/1.45. Secondly, I compared the debate around Cordes/Peaty & Scott/Haas, you’re being intentionally disingenuous if you pretend otherwise. Point to me exactly where I directly compared Peaty & Scott, please?

I’m not suggesting Scott will be any faster, and I’m not saying Haas won’t go 1.43… But all you’re actually predicting is that if Scott goes 1.44 Haas must go 1.43, when there is nothing to suggest he’s going to be any faster than Scott. Haas is not Agnel, neither is Scott.

So, is your argument essentially, ‘if Scott’s… Read more »

Emanuele
Reply to  Dee
6 years ago

I agree, Scott seems more a 200 free than a 100. Maybe he should focus in the 200m until Tokyo and then begin to add muscle.

bobo gigi
Reply to  MichaelTran
6 years ago

Of course it’s tougher without Lochte and especially MP. Remember that USA has not lost a 4X200 free relay at worlds or olympic games with MP in the team since 2004. So of course, that’s a big challenge now.
We don’t know too much about Dwyer’s shape so far. But Haas is mentally ready for a sub 1.45 flat start. Pieroni looks very good. And Conger is always great in relays. Only problem for Conger, the relay final comes after the 100 fly semifinals at worlds. It’s still better than at olympic games when it comes after the 200 fly final. You add Smith and Bentz and you have a decent relay. Enough to beat GB next summer? No… Read more »

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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