2023 BRITISH SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, April 4th – Sunday, April 9th
- Prelims at 9:30 am local (4:30 am EDT)/Finals at 6:00 pm local (1:00 pm EDT)
- Ponds Forge, Sheffield
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- World Championships Selection Criteria
- Draft Entries
- Day 1 Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap
- Live Results
- Livestream
The third morning of the 2023 British Swimming Championships at Ponds Forge featured the women’s 50 free, men’s 400 IM, women’s 200 fly, men’s 100 free, and the early heats of the men’s 1500 free.
British sprint star Anna Hopkin got things going this morning, turning in a very solid prelims performance of 24.72 to lead the field in the women’s 50 free. Hopkin, the British Record holder in the women’s LCM 100 free, has a career best of 24.34 in the LCM 50 free, a time which she swam at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju.
Importantly, the automatically qualifying time to make the British team for Worlds this summer in 24.38, meaning Hopkin will need to get down to her personal best in finals tonight in order to guarantee a spot on the Worlds roster. On the other hand, Hopkin was just off the secondary selection time published by British Swimming, which stands at 24.65. If Hopkin were to hit that time tonight, but not the automatic QT, she would still have a chance to be selected to the World Champs roster in the event, but nothing would be guaranteed.
The men’s 100 free saw some of British Swimming’s best and brightest competing this morning. Leading the way was Matt Richards, who blasted a new lifetime best of 47.72 to claim the top seed for tonight’s final. Not only did the swim mark Richards’ first time under 48 seconds in the individual 100 free, he’s also now the top performer in the world in the men’s LCM 100 free this year.
2022-2023 LCM Men 100 Free
Chalmers
47.15
| 2 | Pan Zhanle | CHN | 47.22 | 05/01 |
| 3 | Jack Alexy | USA | 47.31 | 07/27 |
| 4 | Maxime Grousset | FRA | 47.42 | 07/27 |
| 5 | Matthew Richards | GBR | 47.45 | 07/27 |
Additionally, Richards is now the #2 British performer all time in the event, and just the fourth British swimmer to go under 48 seconds in the event off a flat-start.
All-Time British Performers, Men’s LCM 100 Free:
- Lewis Burras – 47.63
- Matt Richards – 47.72
- Tom Dean – 47.83
- Duncan Scott – 47.87
- Jacob Whittle – 48.11
Also very much of note, each of the top five performers all-time in the 100 free competed in the event this morning, and all five advanced to the ‘A’ final tonight. Of course, Richards led the way with his 47.72. It was Jacob Whittle who came in next this morning, putting up a solid morning swim of 48.45. Duncan Scott touched right behind Whittle, posting a 48.48, while Tom Dean was right behind him in 48.52, and British Record holder Lewis Burras came in fifth with a 48.77.
Given the incredible amount of talent in the ‘A’ final of the men’s 100 free tonight, it will surely be a can’t-miss race, where it seems like we may just see a British Record go down.
Laura Stephens had a great swim in the women’s 200 fly heats this morning, speeding to a 2:07.62. With the swim, Stephens grabbed the top seed for tonight’s final by exactly 1.5 seconds. Moreover, Stephens was just off her personal best of 2:07.04, which she swam in the summer of 2021. Like Hopkin, Stephens put herself within striking distance of the automatic qualifying time for Worlds, which is a 2:06.81 in the 200 fly. It would take a lifetime best performance in finals tonight for Stephens to hit that mark, however, she was only 0.81 seconds off it this morning.
The field was strong behind Stephens this morning, seeing Keanna MacInnes and Emily Large both come in under 2:10 as well. MacInnes has a personal best of 2:08.86 in the event, while Large’s personal best stands at 2:07.74, however, that was a time she swam back at the 2017 World Junior Championships, almost six years ago now.
Mark Szaranek led prelims of the men’s 400 IM this morning, clocking a 4:22.34 to grab lane four for tonight’s ‘A’ final.
Given his gains in the 100, I wonder if Richards can go 1:44 and break up the Dean, Scott duopoly in the 200
Very probably
Seems like the 4×100 free gold is within reach for the british men this summer.
…and getting away from US
Well apart from maybe GB and Italy I still don’t see any other relay realistically beating them although that very much depends on what kind of form Dressel is in. With no Dressel or off-form Dressel, Canada, Hungary, Australia or- by the looks of it – China could also potentially get ahead of the US.
Canada?? Ha!
Dressel’s been back in the water training for 2/3 months and hasn’t taken a stroke in competition fog nearly a year, there shouldn’t be pressure on him to even compete at Worlds never mind be going 47 low.
I absolutely agree (big Dressel fan here)… my point still stands.
Something clearly going very well for both Matt and Emily at Millfield, no comment needed on the former but the latter never really looked the same post-covid. Hopefully this is the start of something for her.
Not every environment suits every swimmer, but coaches play a key role in that environment…
Could both have achieved the same where the were with different coaching?
I sincerely hope Laura Stephens can prove us all wrong this PM
Duncan Scott being back in form is so soothing to witness
Scott’s only our fourth fastest ever hundred freestyler? Well that snuck up on me!
In fairness when was the last time he swam it fully rested?
Probably Olympic trials.
He’s gotta be capable of a rested 47.5, maybe down to 47.3
Will we ever really see(or have we seen the best of him) in the 100Free in his career? He looks to be going down the 200Fr + IM routes to Paris, picking up and supporting relays along with it. Particularly if comments around training volume are anything to go by.
Individually probably not, that relay split was unreal though
Seems like a mistake to me. I guess he’s banking on having a long career and being able to turn to the sprints later down the line, but I feel like having broke through on the 100, that’s probably his most natural event.
Olympic medals in 200Fr + 200IM, big mistake.