Vazaios, Hansson, Auboeck Wreak Havoc On BUCS Day Two

2021 BUCS SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, November 19th – Sunday, November 21st
• Ponds Forge, Sheffield, England
• SCM (25m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Event Site
• Day 1 Recap
• Entries
• Results

The 2021 British Universities & Colleges (BUCS) Championships kicked off last night with the finals of the men’s and women’s 1500m freestyle events. Tonight, however, things really got heated in the team battle, with multiple individual events capped off by a relay to set the stage for the rest of the weekend.

Former NC State standout Andreas Vazaios of Greece had a big-time session this evening, busting out a trio of gold medals in his BUCS debut.

Vazaios first put up a nice personal best in the men’s 50m backstroke to give the Loughborough squad some points, posting a time of 23.37 as the only man under 24 seconds in the race.

The 27-year-old grad student followed that up with a shiny new Greek national record in the men’s 100m butterfly, hitting a mark of 50.13. You can read more about his record-breaking performance here.

But Vazaios was far from done, as the Greek topped the men’s 50m freestyle event in a new lifetime best of 21.40. Vazaios had never before been under the 22-second threshold, but he accomplished the feat in spades en route to gold as well as becoming Greece’s 2nd fastest man ever. Only Kristian Gkolomeev has been quicker, owning the national record in 20.75.

The women’s side also had a multi-event medalist, however, in Loughborough’s Louise Hansson. Hansson wreaked havoc all night, beginning with the 50m backstroke. The 25-year-old former USC weapon produced a winning time of 26.47 to kick off her meet in a new BUCS Record.

She next logged a winning 100m fly time of 56.39 to top the field by nearly 2 seconds.

Finally, Hansson captured the 50m free top prize in a time of 24.59 as the only swimmer to dip under the 26-second threshold. Her time tonight was just .07 off of her own personal best of 24.52 notched way back in 2015.

In the all-important relays, Loughborough struck gold on two counts, as both the men’s and women’s 200m freestyle relay teams wound up on top.

The men’s took home the top prize in a time of 1:27.90, led off by Vazaios’ 21.80 split. The women’s squad from Loughborough hit a final mark of 1:41.47, fueled by Hansson’s 3rd leg of 23.97.

Additional Winners:

• Edinburgh’s Monique Oliver hit a time of 1:58.74 to out-touch Loughborough’s Jess Podger in the women’s 200m free. Podger settled for silver just .01 back in 1:58.75.
• Austria’s Felix Auboeck top[ped the men’s 200m freestyle, beating the field by over 2 seconds. Auboeck, a former University of Michigan Wolverine, posted a time of 1:44.66 tonight for gold.
• Edinburgh’s Kara Hanlon won the women’s 50m breast in a time of 30.77.
• Olympian Cassie Wild notched a time of 2:06.65 in the women’s 200m backstroke to edge out Honey Osrin who produced a time of 2:06.88 as the silver medalist.