2021 BRITISH SWIMMING SELECTION TRIALS
- Wednesday, April 14th – Sunday, April 18th
- Prelims at 10am local/Finals at 7pm local
- London Aquatics Centre
- British Olympic Selection Policy
- Primary Olympic Selection Meet (not only opportunity)
- Entries
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap/Day 5 Recap
- Live Stream
- Live Results
The final race on the final night of competition at these 2021 British Swimming Olympic Selection Trials brought down the virtual house, as Duncan Scott stormed his way to a new British national record in the men’s 200m free.
After a scintillating prelim where we saw 5 men get under the 1:47 threshold, Scott scorched a massive personal best of 1:44.47 to ultimately reach the top of the podium and add this event to his Tokyo line-up.
That cleared his own British Record of 1:44.91, done at the 2019 World Championships, by almost half-a-second.
Scott launched his assault with an opening 100m of 50.25 before bringing it home in 54.22 to collect his 1:44.47 PB, a mark which sliced .44 off of his own previous national standard of 1:44.91 logged en route to 3rd place at the 2019 FINA World Championships.
With his result here, Scott now checks in as the #1 swimmer in the world this season, dethroning Japan’s Katsuo Matsumoto who held the top time entering this meet of 1:44.65.
But also getting under the former British national record was Tom Dean, the Bath athlete who just ripped the best swim of his life to qualify for the Olympic Games. Dean kept up with Scott, leading off in 50.57 before ending in 54.01 to give Scott a run for his money down the line in 1:44.58. Dean’s previous personal best in this event sat at the 1:46.03 he produced at the 2020 Edinburgh International, so the man entirely skipped the 1:45’s and went straight into the 1:44 zone, overtaking the previous British Record along with Scott in the process.
Rounding out the top 3 and not to be discounted was Matt Richards, with the 18-year-old ripping a time of 1:45.77 to beat out 2015 World Championships gold medalist James Guy to place 3rd. Richards’ previous PB sat at 1:47.23 entering this meet, a mark he logged for silver at the European Junior Championships. Richards already most likely qualified for Tokyo as 2nd place finisher in the 100m free behind Scott.
For Guy’s part, he placed 4th in this 200m, stopping the clock in 1:46.04.
Scott and Dean now rank as the #1 and #2 swimmers in the world this season and, with Japan’s Katsuo Matsumoto, represent the only sub-1:45 second swimmers. The pair also now enter the all-time rankings worldwide in this 200m free event, sliding into slots #9 and #10.
2020-2021 LCM Men 200 Free
Dean
1:44.22
| 2 | Duncan Scott | GBR | 1:44.26 | 07/27 |
| 3 | Hwang Sunwoo | KOR | 1:44.62 | 07/25 |
| 4 | Katsuo Matsumoto | JPN | 1:44.65 | 04/05 |
| 5 | Fernando Scheffer | BRA | 1:44.66 | 07/27 |
Scott already claimed the British record in the men’s 200m IM here in 1:55.90 and also matched his own 100m free NR of 47.87, so this event completes his trifecta of Olympic-qualifying, record-breaking swims here in London.
Tom did this after having covid not once but twice and being out of the pool for 3 weeks each time. Absolutely insane
If we include Raspys, that is four under 1:45 before the Olympics. Has that ever happened before? Cause this depth is insane rn.
The british phelps and lochte
I love that their stud guys didn’t come to USA and swim ncaa! (Same with Aussies) Their system works for them. Top 3 are young and their upside is scary for rest of the world!
I think that these were the fastest 50, 100, and 150 splits in a 200 free in the non-suit era. Duncan Scott was, understandably, dying in the last 20m. Agnel was over 24″ at the 50 in both his London and Barcelona races.
Not to 50. The legendary Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos was out in 23.3 in the Rio 2016 final.
That was an insane race by Le Clos; I didn’t realize he had gone out that fast. No wonder he couldn’t finish well, although he did get silver and was only caught by S Yang with the bagage this guy carried.
True, and I don’t think any suit swimmer had broken 1’17” at the 150 either.
Gonna need to go 1:45 just to final in Tokyo. 1:44 might not medal.
I’d be surprised, not many will go 1.43.
1:44 will medal for sure.
I guess Bill meant that you could swim 1:44 and still miss out on a medal? So far Scott, Dean and Matsumoto have all gone well under 1:45. Throw in Rapsys, and maybe some Aus/US swimmers (also sadly Yang if he’s allowed to swim) and it’s not impossible that you could have 4 guys under 1:45 in the final.
I think it will definitely take 1:45 to make the final. It already did in Gwangju, and things seem quicker now.
Scheffer was 1:45:5 in 2018 and 1:45:7 in 2019. Has a shot to go 1:44
True. It’s hard to make predictions this year because of the situation. Two years since major meets, and haven’t really seen (m)any of the Brazilians in that time at all, so this week will tell us more of where they’re at. They had that amazing swim at indoor Worlds (late 18 or early 19 was it?) but haven’t quite transferred that to LC yet.
Late 18.. 19 I expected more of Scheffer and Breno specially..
Sartori was Jr. World bronze medallist on 200 and did not have a major competition since then, so let´s see what he does here.. he will already swim the 400 free (Scheffer and Guilherme Costa also) in a few minutes.
De Lucca has retired, but overall the guys are pretty young. Only “Old guy” who might qualify is Leo Santos who had a superb ISL season. (And Old for Santos means he is 26, Scheffer is 23, Breno 22, Melo 24, Sartori who will turn 19, Costa 22 and going an outside shot is Saldo who just turned 18 and is the guy who broke almost all of… Read more »
It took a 1:45.76 just to final in 2019…
Great Britain would be tough to beat in that 4×200 relay now!!
GB have won medals at 2015, 2017 worlds and 2016 olympics. And those years you had Guy, Scott then two weaker swimmers. Now GB will have no weaknesses.
Scott and Dean are 1:44 swimmers
Richards 1:45 swimmer
Guy swam 1:46 but is always better on relays, has swam 1:43.80 before but usually in high 1:44’s low 1:45’s
These boys (and Matsumoto and Lewis) are showing everyone how 1:44s are done. If you don’t have an elite 400 free you can kiss 1:44 goodbye if you won’t go out in 50.
I hope Chalmers doesn’t continue backending the 200 like a 400 swimmer.