2019 British Swimming C’ships: Day 4 Prelims Recap

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 Selection Analysis
• SwimSwam Elite Men Preview/SwimSwam Elite Women Preview
• SwimSwam Emerging Women Preview/SwimSwam Emerging Men Preview
• Final Start Lists
• Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Recap/Day 3 Finals Recap
• Live Results

Please note this is a live document; please refresh for updates.

Women’s 200m Back – Prelims

• Selection Time #1 – 2:06.82, Selection Time #2 – 2:08.05
• British National Record – 2:06.66, Gemma Spofforth, 2009

Open Top 8:

The 1-2 British finishers from last year are in the top 8 again this time around with Edinburgh’s Kathryn Greenslade and Bath’s Jessica Fullalove among the top 8 in this women’s backstroke.

At the 2018 British championships, 21-year-old Greenslade took the British National Tittle in at time of 2:11.67, while Fullalove was runner-up in 2:12.18. Fullalove has already beaten that time with her morning outing of 2:11.95 to land lane 4, while Greenslade is the 3rd seed in 2:13.01.

Fullalove holds a personal best of 2:10.01 in this event from way back in 2015, while Greenslade’s lifetime fastest is her title-winning mark of last year. Both women will need to drop drastically to get near the 2:o8.05 minimum selection time to be considered for this summer’s World Championships.

Chloe Golding is among the top contenders as well, with the Manchester swimmer clocking 2:12.47 this morning for the 2nd seed. Golding has been under the 2:10 threshold before with her 2:09.93 from the Swim England Winter Championships in 2017. That time made Golding the 10th fastest British performer in history.

Veteran Aimee Willmott is the 5th seed in this event out of the morning heats, following up on a 400m IM victory here that may have notched her a roster spot for Gwangju, while a trio of teenagers hold the 6, 7 and 8 spots.

7th seeded Honey Osrin was among our meet preview ’emerging women to watch’. The 15-year-old owns a personal best of 2:13.48 and has proven she can hold her own against the world’s elite. She recently swam at the FFN Golden Tour where she took bronze in the Open A final of the 200m backstroke and also took the Open B Final win in the 200m IM in Nice.

15-year-old Katie Shanahan has already nailed one British Age Record here in Glasgow in the women’s 400m IM, breaking a Hannah Miley mark. She sits less than half a second behind Osrin to have a battle of the teen titans tonight.

Men’s 100m Fly – Prelims

• Selection Time #1 – 51.24, Selection Time #2 – 51.55
• British National Record – 50.67, James Guy, 2017

Open Top 8:

The British National Record holder and 200 fly champion already here in Glasgow, James Guy, is on his way to hitting the fly double, leading the men’s field in 52.88.

The 2015 200m freestyle World Champion and two-time Olympic relay silver medalist is leading the field in 52.88, 1 of 2 sub-53 second times of the morning. The other came from Stirling’s Scott McLay, who put down a 52.99.

For Guy, his PB is his NR of 50.67 from the 2017 World Championships semi-finals, where the Bath swimmer ultimately took the bronze in 50.83. The versatile Guy followed that up with Commonwealth Games silver in 51.31 to stand behind South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, while he earned bronze at this same pool at least year’s European Championships in 51.42.

As such, Guy has proven he’s more than capable of hitting the minimum time qualifications for the World Championships this summer, but he’ll need to be in true championship form.

As will the rest of the crew. McLay’s 52.99 is a huge personal best by almost a second, shattering the 53.89 he put up at the BUCS Championships just this past February. That mark had him inserted as the 42nd fastest British swimmer on the all-time list, but his 52.99 lifetime best from this morning now rockets him to slot #19 with the final yet to come.

Not to be forgotten is last night’s 100m freestyle National Record-setting Duncan Scott, lurking as the 5th seed in 53.59, while young Jacob Peters is hoping to improve upon his bronze medal in the 200m with perhaps a silver here behind Guy tonight.

Peters is the reigning British National Champion from last year with his mark of 53.78, a time that beat Scott’s 53.85 in that same final.

Of note, Matt Richards, who wowed the Tollcross International Swimming Centre with a sub-50 100m free at just 16 years of age, was disqualified in this 100m fly event for a twitch at the start.

Of his 100m fly performance this morning, Guy commented, “It was a good swim. I’ve realised from watching Duncan and Adam the last few days that putting a bit of pressure on in the heats gives you a feel for how you’re doing – sometimes if you go too slow it’s hard to get up for the evening final. I knew I was in control so I could just press when I needed to press. I thought if I had a good first 50m and had a reasonable underwater I could just do what I needed to do.”

Women’s 100m Free – Prelims

• Selection Time #1 – 52.72, Selection Time #2 – 53.95
• British National Record – 52.87, Fran Halsall, 2009

Open Top 8:

The 2nd fastest British swimmer of all-time in this event, Freya Anderson looked on form again this morning, punching the wall in a mighty 54.10 to lead the pack of women’s 100m freestylers.

The 18-year-old Ellesmere Titan is the 2017 World Junior Champion in this event and holds a PB of 53.61, far and away the fastest of the field entering this competition. She already won 200m free gold here and also nabbed 50m free bronze last night.

Anderson is already within .15 of the Selection Time #2, which bodes very well for her nabbing a roster spot for Worlds in this event tonight. She took the title last year in a modest 55.91

50m free champion from last night, Anna Hopkin, is continuing to show her prowess in these sprint events, claiming the 2nd seed in 54.77. That misses her lifetime best by just .01, with her career-fastest resting at the 54.76 she hit at the 2017 Swim England Winter Championships.

The University of Arkansas swimmer whipped out a 26.21 opening 50, the fastest of the top 8, so if she can carry that same kind of speed on the back half, Hopkin could be in good shape.

Greenslade made her 2nd final of the night by clinching the 7th seed here in 56.45, no doubt trying to snag a women’s 4x100m freestyle relay slot. We’ll see if she keeps this individual entry for tonight’s final.

Edinburgh brings 4 swimmers into tonight’s final, led by Lucy Hope‘s 55.75 3rd seed. She took silver behind Anderson last year in 55.95.

As we reported, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor bowed out of this morning’s 100m free prelims, despite holding the 3rd seeded time.

Men’s 200m Breast – Prelims

• Selection Time #1 – 2:08.05, Selection Time #2 – 2:09.35
• British National Record – 2:07.30, Ross Murdoch, 2014

Open Top 8:

Finally in the men’s 200m breaststroke, the duo of Ross Murdoch and Craig Benson out of the University of Stirling paved the way in the heats, taking the 1-2 spots in respective efforts of 2:11.43 and 2:13.04.

Murdoch took silver in this event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in a mark of 2:08.32 and followed that up with a 4th place finish at the 2018 European Championships in 2:08.55. As long as the 25-year-old is in that range tonight, he’ll be safe to make it onto the World Championships roster for Gwangju.

Finishing ahead of Murdoch at both of the aforementioned competitions is on-fire breaststroker James Wilby. The Loughborough athlete already ranks 14th in the world with his season-best outing of 2:09.71 produced at BUCS Championships. He established himself as the 4th seed this morning here in 2:14.67, gliding into the wall with the least amount of effort in order to pound out a special performance tonight.

Benson’s personal best rests at the 2:09.07 he threw down back in 2016, so the two-time Olympian will need to hustle to not only make tonight’s podium, but put up a World Championships-worthy clocking.

Derby standout Greg Butler made the final as the 6th seeded swimmer, tying Loughborough’s Edward Baxter in 2:16.82.

Of his swim this morning, Murdoch stated, “It was good swim this morning, I’m happy with that. It was just about staying controlled this morning and getting a feel for the change in intensity. It’s going to be a good race tonight – Benson and Wilby are both capable of doing big drops tonight, so it’s all to play for.”