arena Swim of the Week: 15-Year-Old Amalie Smith Sets British Junior Record With 4:41 400 IM

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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

British age grouper Amalie Smith continued her rapid rise up the ranks last week at the 25th Euro Meet in Luxembourg, setting a trio of best times and shattering a British Age Record in the process.

Smith, 15, won the women’s 400 IM at the senior-level meet in a time of 4:41.70, blowing away the competition despite being one of the youngest swimmers in the field.

The swim took down the British Age Record for 15-year-old girls of 4:43.36, set by Katie Shanahan in 2019, and obliterates her previous personal best of 4:48.09 set in late November at the Rotterdam Qualification Meet.

The Swim England squad competing at the Luxembourg Euro Meet enjoyed success on the opening day 👏

🥇 Amalie Smith set a new British age group record (15 years) in the 400m Individual Medley with a time of 4:41.70

🥈 Hollie Wilson claimed silver in the 800m Freestyle in 8:49.82 pic.twitter.com/GK3AIxUYjP

— Swim England (@Swim_England) February 1, 2025

Relative to her previous best time, Smith showed significant improvement on backstroke and breaststroke, gaining nearly six seconds over the middle 200, while compared to Shanahan, she lost some ground on back but more than made up for it on breast (and gained another second on the last 50 of free).

Split Comparison

Smith now ranks 11th all-time among British women in the 400 IM, and sits 3rd in the world for the 2024-25 season.

In addition to to her 400 IM breakthrough, she also set best times in the 200 IM (2:14.57) and 200 breast (2:29.77), which rank 6th and 7th, respectively, all-time among British 15-year-olds.

Smith’s progression since last summer has been remarkable. At the 2024 British Championships, she placed 4th in the 400 IM in the 18 & under category in a time of 4:57.66, nearly 16 seconds slower than she went in Luxembourg.

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