2019 British Swimming Championships
- Tuesday, April 16th – Sunday, April 21st
- Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Glasgow, Scotland
- Prelims at 10am local (5am Eastern)/Finals at 6:30pm local (1:30pm Eastern)
- SwimSwam’s British Championships Selection Preview
- DRAFT – Start List
- British 2019 World Championships Selection Policy
- British 2019 World and European Junior Championships Selection Policy
- British 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival Selection Policy
- Livestream Link To Be Announced
We’ve hammered out the selection policy details surrounding the 2019 British Championships that kick off on Tuesday, but let’s take a look at some the athletes taking to the Tollcross International Swimming Center pool in the biggest domestic meet of the year.
Both amateur and pro athletes alike will be throwing down their best efforts to qualify for this summer’s most elite international competitions and we’ve seen in the past that anything can happen in this high-stress, yet thrilling and passion-filled environment.
Below are just a few of the seasoned male elite athletes ready to rock and then look for an additional preview that highlights some of the elite female athletes, as well as a separate post on aspiring swimmers on the cusp of a possible breakthrough performers in Glasgow and beyond.
- The man who, as Olympic champion, World champion and World Record holder, needs no introduction, Adam Peaty is entered in his bread-and-butter 50m and 100m breaststroke races. He is the virtually untouchable favorite to not only take the British National titles, but also potentially put up something special considering he’s already been as fast as 58.73 in-season in the long sprint.
- There were several hoping to see the 24-year-old take on the 200m breast, but the Loughborough athlete hasn’t fully embraced that event and will leave it to the likes of Ross Murdoch, James Wilby and Craig Benson.
Ross Murdoch
- Speaking of Ross Murdoch, the University of Stirling silver medalist form the 2018 Commonwealth Games is seeded 2nd in the 200m breast 3rd in the 100m and and 2nd in the 50m. The 25-year-old is fully capable of achieving the stiff QT’s in each event, hopefully building upon his World Championships bronze in the 100m breaststroke from Kazan and medley relay silver fro 2017 Worlds in Budapest.
- The 2015 World Champion in the men’s 200m free has dropped the 400m mid-distance gig and instead been making headway in the fly arena. The National Cnetre Bath athlete is the man to beat in the 100m fly, entered with a top-seeded time of 51.42. He also holds top dog status in the 200m fly with his #1 time of 1:56.13, but hasn’t forgotten about the 200m free. He’s seeded 2nd behind Duncan Scott with a time of 1:46.20.
- The most decorated Scottish athlete ever at a Commonwealth Games, Duncan Scott, has entered an array of events, speaking to the God-given talent this man has in the pool. The University of Stirling stud has eyes on the 100m free and 100m free, where he’s entered as the top seed in each with respective marks of 48.02 and 1:45.34. He’s also set to tackle the 100m fly in 53.78 as the 7th seed, the 200m IM as the 2nd seed in 1:57.86 and the 200m fly with his mark of 1:56.60.
- If Scott were to drop an event, it would most likely be the 100m fly, which represents the Olympic relay medalists’s weakest chance of qualifying individually or for a relay given the men seeded before him. But, he may use the race as a warm-up swim for his main events.
- Energy Standard swimmer Ben Proud has already nailed a 50m freestyle time of 21.71 unrested to sit as the 5th fastest swimmer in the world, so Tollcross will be poised to see what the World Champion butterflyer has in store. He’ll be taking on the 50m fly event as well, but is listed in the 100m free additionally.
- Proud rarely swims the 100m free, but may keep it as a potential relay bid, even though he is seeded with a mark of 50.56 and will need to at the very least get in the 48-high/49-low zone for relay consideration.
- The Swansea swimmer is a distance ace primed to make his mark in a big international meet this summer. That’s assuming he can replicate his impressive performances as of late. This includes a world’s top 10 performance in the 1500m, where the 22-year-old produced a mark of 14:57.48 at the Edinburgh International Swim Meet.
- Wilby has been on a roll, claiming double silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in super solid efforts. He took the 100m behind Peaty in a big 58.64, then claimed runner-up behind Russia’s Anton Chupkov with a mark of 2:08.39.
- The Loughborough swimmer currently ranks 4th in the world in the 100m breast in 59.23 while holding the 14th time in the world with the 2:09.71 2breast he produced at BUCS.
Additional swimmers to keep an eye on in terms of the veteran elite include Max Litchfield, Mark Szaranek, Jay Lelliott, Stephen Milne, Luke Greenbank, among others.
