2018 BUCS SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, November 9th – Saturday, November 11th
- Ponds Forge ISC, Sheffield
- SCM
- Meet Info
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Entry List
- Live Results
Night 1 of the 2018 British Universities & Colleges Sport Championships (BUCS) brought the women’s 800m freestyle and men’s 1500m freestyle to Ponds Forge to kick-off the 3-day meet.
Nottingham’s Polly Holden denied Loughborough’s Abbie Wood a 2nd consecutive title in the 800m, winning this year’s gold in a time of 8:26.63. Wood settled for silver this time around in 8:29.16 while Kathryn Greenslade clocked 8:39.70 for bronze.
Last year at this championships Holden finished 8th in a time of 8:46.81, so the 19-year-old vastly improved on her swim to land atop the podium this evening. In fact, her sub 8:30 time tonight checks-in as 11th fastest in the world this season.
For the men, it was Bath University that clinched two medals in the 1500m, led by Tom Derbyshire‘s time of 14:59.97. Sheffield Hallum’s Sam Budd finished in 15:17.75 for a 2nd consecutive silver medal in this event, while Derbyshire’s teammate William Ryley rounded out the top 3 in 15:22.76.
Relays were also on the docket this evening, with Loughborough taking the top 2 spots in the mixed medley relay. The ‘A’ squad clocked 1:42.46 to ‘B’s 1:43.31, while Stirling took bronze in 1:44.52.
A super close race ensued in the women’s 200m freestyle relay, with the top 3 teams separated by just .08. Edinburgh led the pack in 1:43.80, while Loughborough touched a fingernail behind in 1:43.83. Stirling was also right there in the mix, finishing just .05 out of silver and .08 out of gold in 1:43.88.
The men’s edition of the 200m freestyle relay wasn’t nearly as close, with winning team Stirling representing the only squad to dip under 1:30. Stirling raced to the wall first in 1:28.24, while Loughborough touched 2 seconds later in 1:30.25. Bath also landed on the podium in 1:30.94 for bronze.
