2026 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships: Day One A-Finals Live Recap

2026 AQUATICS GB SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, April 14th – Sunday, April 19th
• Prelims at 9:30am local (4:30am ET)/B-Finals & Junior Finals at 6pm local (1pm ET)/A-finals at 7:45pm local (2:45pm ET)
• London Aquatics Centre
• European Championships Selection Policy
• SwimSwam Preview
• Meet Central
• Entries
• Prelims Recap: Day 1
• Start Lists/Live Results
• Livestream

Day one of the 2026 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships will see action unfold this evening for our first finals session, featuring some of the nation’s speediest veterans and rising young stars.

As a reminder, this competition represents the primary qualification opportunity for swimmers to add their names to the British roster for this year’s European Championships. It also serves as a qualification competition for the swimmers’ Home Nation selection for this year’s Commonwealth Games.

The event lineup includes the men’s 400m free, women’s 50m breast, women’s 200m fly, men’s 50m breast and women’s 100m free to get the party started.

START LIST

While the men’s 400m free will include racing mainstays James Guy, Jack McMillan and Tyler Melbourne-Smith, the women’s 50m breast saw a pair of newcomers enter the mix ahead of veteran and British national record holder Imogen Clark.

Gabrielle Idle-Beavers roared to the wall first as the top-seeded prelims swimmer, posting a monster personal best of 30.82. Just like that, the Mount Kelly swimmer became GBR’s 10th-best performer of all time in her first-ever outing under the 31-second barrier.

The likes of Olympic semi-finalist Keanna MacInnes, former world junior champion Emily Richards and Ciara Schlosshan will be among the top contenders in the women’s 200m fly, with 16-year-old two-time European Junior Championships gold medalist Amalie Smith also making tonight’s main event.

Olympic multi-champion and world record holder Adam Peaty put up a promising morning swim of 59.30 to land lane 4 for tonight’s men’s 100m breast final. Although, World Junior Championships multi-medalist Filip Nowacki will be hot on the newly-married man’s trail in pursuit of championship qualification.

Finally, a tale of two Freyas is set to unfold in the women’s 100m fly final, with Freya Anderson and Freya Colbert ready to rumble after clinching the top two seeds.

Abbie Wood, Leah Schlosshan, Eva Okaro and Theodora Taylor will look to rain on their parade, however.

MEN’S 400 FREE – FINAL

• British Record – 3:43.75, James Guy, 2015
• GBR Euros QT – 3:46.56
• ENG Commonwealth QT – 3:48.34
• WAL Commonwealth QT – 3:49.66
• SCO Commonwealth QT – 3:49.73
• NI Commonwealth QT – 3:51.57

GOLD – James Guy, 3:44.04 *GBR Euros QT, ENG QT*
SILVER – Jack McMillan, 3:46.82 *NI QT*
BRONZE – Tyler Melbourne-Smith, 3:47.17 *WA QT*

30-year-old veteran and Olympic multi-gold medalist James Guy threw down the hammer in the men’s 400m free final, leading wire-to-wire to claim gold in a wicked-quick performance of 3:44.04.

That garnered him a roster slot on the British line-up for this year’s European Championships, as well as on England’s roster for the Commonwealth Games.

Guy, who represents Manchester Performance Centre, beat the pack by well over two seconds. His men’s 4x200m freestyle relay gold medalist teammate from the 2024 Olympic Games, Jack McMillan, was next to the wall in 3:46.82 followed by Tyler Melbourne-Smith‘s effort of 3:47.17.

Guy’s lifetime best and British record remains at the 3:43.75 he logged in 2015 but the fact that he was less than half a second off that mark tonight, 11 years later, is quite remarkable. He now ranks 5th in the world at the moment, bumping out newly minted European Record holder in the 800m fre, Johannes Liebmann of Germany.

McMillan’s time checks in as his first-ever foray under the 3:47 barrier, overtaking his previous PB of 3:47.28 from last year’s World Championships. He now checks in as GBR’s 12th-best performer of all time.

Rounding out the podium was Loughborough’s Tyler Melbourne-Smith, with the 20-year-old rising star clocking a time of 3:47.17, a new lifetime best by nearly a second. He’ll dive back in for the men’s 200m and 1500m freestyle events later in this competition.

WOMEN’S 50 BREAST – FINAL

• British Record – 30.02, Imogen Clark, 2022
• GBR Euros QT – 30.57
• ENG Commonwealth QT – 30.90
• WAL Commonwealth QT – 31.23
• SCO Commonwealth QT – 31.16
• NI Commonwealth QT – 31.21

GOLD – Imogen Clark, 30.69 *ENG QT*
SILVER – Anna Morgan, 30.83 *ENG QT*
BRONZE – Gabrielle Idle-Beavers, 31.11

Reigning British national record holder Imogen Clark did what had to be done to capture gold in the final of the women’s 50m breaststroke.

The 26-year-old European Championships and Commonwealth Games multi-medalist stopped the clock at 30.69 to register one of two sub-31-second outings of the field.

Joining her under the barrier was Edinburgh’s Anna Morgan, who clinched silver in 30.83; not enough for the European Championships but enough for the English Commonwealth Games lineup.

Falling from the top seed to the bronze medal position was Mt Kelly’s Gabrielle Idle-Beavers, who settled for 3rd in 31.11 after hitting a monster lifetime best of 30.82 this morning.

Clark’s national record remains at the 30.02 she swam for silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, while Morgan’s swim tonight scored a new PB, overtaking her previous best-ever outing of 30.78 notched at the Edinburgh International this past March.

WOMEN’S 200 FLY – FINAL

• British Record – 2:04.83, Ellen Gandy, 2009
• GBR Euros QT – 2:07.96
• ENG Commonwealth QT – 2:10.00
• WAL Commonwealth QT – 2:11.23
• SCO Commonwealth QT – 2:11.88
• NI Commonwealth QT – 2:11.15

GOLD – Keanna MacInnes, 2:07.02 *GBR Euros, SCO QT*
SILVER – Emily Richards, 2:07.70 *GBR Euros, ENG QT*
BRONZE – Ciara Schlosshan, 2:08.63 *SCO QT*

Scottish national record holder Keanna MacInnes exerted her dominance in this women’s 200m fly event, capturing gold in a time of 2:07.02. Her time fell just .11 outside her lifetime best of 2:06.93 put on the books last year, of which the 24-year-old said post-race was a disappointment.

Regardless, MacInnes beat the field by over half a second, with former World Junior Championships gold medalist Emily Richards nabbing silver in 2:07.70 followed by Ciara Schlosshan who bagged the bronze in 2:08.63.

Richards’ lifetime best remains at the 2:07.33 from 2023 so the World Championships finalist was clearly within striking distance of that performance here tonight.

This marks MacInnes’ consecutive title in this event, dipping under the British European Championships qualification time of 2:07.96 needed for Paris this summer.

Richards’ mark also cleared that standard to put her name on the roster.

MEN’S 100 BREAST – FINAL

• British Record – 56.88, Adam Peaty, 2019
• GBR Euros QT – 59.65
• ENG Commonwealth QT – 1:00.10
• WAL Commonwealth QT – 1:00.68
• SCO Commonwealth QT – 1:01.04
• NI Commonwealth QT – 1:00.65

GOLD – Adam Peaty, 58.97 *GBR Euros QT, ENG QT*
SILVER – Filip Nowacki, 59.39, *GBR Euros QT, ENG QT*
BRONZE – Max Morgan, 59.56, *GBR Euros QT, ENG QT*

Newly-married Adam Peaty put on a show in this men’s 100m breaststroke, proving to the world that he is coming back to form with this year’s European Championships on the horizon.

The 31-year-old British ace, who needs no introduction, ripped a gold medal-worthy swim of 58.97 to handily take the gold in the event, nabbing his spots on the British European Championships roster and English Commonwealth Games roster in the process.

Peaty split 27.48/31.51 to put up the sole sub-59-second time of the field, although World Junior Championships multi-champion Filip Nowacki was right behind in 59.39.

Reed’s Swim Club Max Morgan cleaned up the bronze medal position in 59.56 as the only other sub-minute performer on the field.

Peaty, who now swims for Repton after longtime coach Mel Marshall moved to Australia, now represents the #2 swimmer in the world, sitting only behind Japanese prodigy Shin Ohashi.

The scary thing is that Peaty’s time this evening would have stolen the gold at the 2024 Olympic Games, in which this event was notoriously slow, with Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi notching 59.03 for gold.

WOMEN’S 100 FREE – FINAL

• British Record – 52.75, Anna Hopkin, 2021
• GBR Euros QT – 53.62
• ENG Commonwealth QT – 54.05
• WAL Commonwealth QT – 54.44
• SCO Commonwealth QT – 54.71
• NI Commonwealth QT – 55.06

GOLD – Eva Okaro, 53.75 *ENG QT*
SILVER – Evelyn Davis, 53.99 *SCO QT*
BRONZE – Freya Colbert, 54.02 *ENG QT*

University of Texas’ Eva Okaro raced her way to gold in a time of 53.75, hitting one of two performances under the 54-second barrier.

Evelyn Davis was next to the wall in 53.99, with 2024 world champion in the 400m IM, Freya Colbert, rounding out the podium in 54.02.

Okaro’s outing this evening represents a new lifetime best, beating the 54.10 she put up at last year’s edition of this competition. Although she fell shy of the QT needed for this year’s European Championships, the teen now ranks as GBR’s #4 performer of all time.

Top 5 GBR Women’s LCM 100 Freestyle Performers All-Time

1. 52.75, Anna Hopkin – 2024
2. 52.87, Francesca Halsall – 2009
3. 53.31, Freya Anderson – 2019
4. 53.75, Eva Okaro – 2026
5. 53.81, Siobhan Marie-O’Connor – 2015

As for Davis, the Stirling swimmer scorched her previous best-ever performance of 54.69 to snag the silver just .24 behind Okaro. Just like that, the 21-year-old Scot now ranks as GBR’s #7 performer in history.

400m IM world champion and Olympic finalist Colbert also checked in with a PB, with her 54.02 result this evening knocking just over half a second off her previous career-swiftest result of 54.54 from last year’s edition of the competition.