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 Original Selection Criteria
- Revised Selection Criteria
- Draft Entries
- Day 1 Finals Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap/Day 3 Finals Recap
- Live Results
- Livestream
The selection criteria for the 2023 World Championships as set forward by British Swimming are notably stringent. Only three swimmers have swum under the standard in an individual event after four days of racing: Freya Colbert in the 400 IM, Daniel Jervis in the 1500 freestyle, and Laura Stephens in the 200 butterfly.
In addition to the individual qualifying times, British Swimming published relay consideration standards for the 2023 World Championships. Section 5.3 of the standards states the following:
5.3: The top four finishers in each of the final of the 100m and 200m Freestyle events will be ranked as a relay team on the basis of their combined finals time against the time in Table 2. This will qualify the relay for consideration but it does not automatically qualify the top four athletes that swam the combined time inside the time in Table 2. The decision on which athletes swim in which relay (once that relay is qualified) will be made by the GB Head Coach in consultation with the PD.
The standards explain that if the aggregate of the top four swimmers in the 100 freestyle at Trials is under the cut, the relay will qualify but not necessarily those four swimmers. The top four men in the 100 freestyle did qualify for the 4×100 freestyle, getting under the time of 3:13.04, while the top four women missed the 3:34.91 standard.
Additionally, the add-up in the women’s 200 freestyle on day one is slower than the qualification cut of 7:49.00 and the aggregate from the winners of each of the men’s 100s is slower than the consideration standard of 3:31.50. That means that of the four relays that British swimmers could have qualified for the 2023 World Championships as of day four, only one has gotten under the standard.
Top 4 – Men’s 100 Freestyle
- Lewis Burras – 47.99
- Duncan Scott – 48.00
- Matt Richards – 48.02
- Tom Dean – 48.32
- Add-Up: 3:12.33
- Consideration Standard: 3:13.04
Top 4 – Women’s 100 Freestyle
- Freya Anderson – 53.48
- Anna Hopkin – 53.52
- Lucy Hope – 54.34
- Abbie Wood – 55.01
- Add-Up: 3:36.35
- Consideration Standard: 3:34.91
Top 4 – Women’s 200 Freestyle
- Freya Anderson – 1:55.89
- Abbie Wood – 1:57.21
- Lucy Hope – 1:58.03
- Medi Harris – 1:58.59
- Add-Up: 7:49.72
- Consideration Standard: 7:49.00
Men’s 100-Meter Champions
- Backstroke: Oliver Morgan – 53.92
- Breaststroke: James Wilby – 59.94
- Butterfly: Jacob Peters – 51.16
- Freestyle: Lewis Burras – 47.99
- Add-Up: 3:33.01
- Consideration Standard: 3:31.50
The selection criteria don’t explicitly lay out if there is a path for a relay to qualify if the top four swimmers don’t get under the cut, though British Swimming has been flexible with its selection policy so far in the meet.
The four women who placed within the top four of the women’s 100 freestyle: Freya Anderson, Anna Hopkin, Lucy Hope, and Abbie Wood, swam the 4×100 freestyle for Great Britain at the 2022 World Championships. They swam a 3:35.43 in the final last year to place 5th overall. The same four women placed 5th in the 4×100 freestyle at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with a 3:33.96 national record.
Getting as many relays into competition at the 2023 World Championships will be important for all nations as they look forward to the Paris 2024 Olympics. The first set of spots for the 2024 Olympics will go to nations that place within the top three at the 2023 World Championships and the remaining spots will be given out based on results at the 2024 World Championships.
We have yet to see if the men’s 4×200 freestyle or women’s 4×100 medley relays will get under the respective cuts. The men’s 200 freestyle will take place on day six of the meet, as will the women’s 100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly. The consideration time in the 4×200 freestyle for the men is a 7:07.40 and the women’s 4×100 medley is a 3:55.96.
British Swimming is sabotaging their own goals.
Sad.
Ah, you hate to see it.
Bahha no you don’t that rules lololol eat it Brits.
You have to feel for all British swimmers who are having to navigate through this not only those competing at trials but every British swimmer of any age and level trying to figure out their future in the sport of swimming. Likewise all the coaches and clubs who have to be scratching their heads about the leadership of British Swimming. Swimming has always been a sport primarily founded in the objectivity of a clock. Now that fundamental premise has been overridden by a subjective selection by a high performance director. I have seen in other comments on this subject that financial resources are limited and therefore the country is limited in terms of the number of swimmers that can be… Read more »
Guns a’blazin’ there, oldswimdad, salted with unobjectionable wisdom.
They’d do well to switch to rowing!
GB when they don’t have a 56-point breaststroke split 🍔
In fairness while it’s clearly a difference maker, a large chunk of Peaty’s splits have been balancing out a comparatively slow backstroke split. The fly (Guy) and free (Scott/Dean/Burras) splits are amongst the top in most medley relays.
I posted this in the other thread, but my belief is that one of the reasons they scrapped the limit of discretionary picks is because the relays weren’t hitting, or going to hit, the consideration times. In past years most of the relays have hit these, which allows a number of consideration picks, and then the number of discretionary picks remaining is enough. Here they would have to have used discretionary picks on (likely): Harris, Hope, Wilby, Morgan, possibly Guy, maybe in women’s 100 fly and/or breast, just to be able to swim the relays in Japan. That leaves not much room for other discretionary picks (e.g. back-ups for relays like Whittle/McMillan, picks for promising youngsters, etc.).
So like Sub13… Read more »
I think World Aquatics redid the relay selection policy so that it is not only the Top 3 from 2023 that are selected. The Top 3 from Fukuoka are guaranteed an Olympic spot, the remaining 13 will be based on the fastest times done at either Fukuoka OR Doha excluding the relays that already qualified in Fukuoka.
Without fear of stating the obvious: BRITISH SWIMMING has shot themselves in the foot!
After 4 days of competition, the ranks of those individuals and relays who’ve qualified, is, in a word, pathetic – at least by the standards of Brit.Swim. Now what?
I suspect they are going to eat crow and bend the criteria, because Paris 2024 is a huge prize and you can’t get there except thru the World Championships.
Let me get this right. You can finish in the top four in the 100/200FS and do a time that is good enough so that the aggregated times meet the selection standard for sending a relay team …….. but the Head Coach and the Performance Director have the discretion to leave you off the team! Only British Swimming can come up with something as absurd as that.
Right? I mean, that sounds like the shenanigans that happen in gymnastics, not swimming.