2025 Aquatics GB Day 3 Prelims Recap: Richards Fires Off 48.07 100 Free Marker

2025 AQUATICS GB SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, April 15th – Sunday, April 20th
• Prelims at 9:30am local (4:30am ET)/Finals at 7pm local (2pm ET)
• London Aquatics Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Aquatics GB World Championships Selection Criteria
• SwimSwam Preview
• Draft Entries
• Live Results
• Livestream
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2

We entered Day 3 of the 2025 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, the sole qualifying competition for British swimmers to add their names to the roster for this summer’s World Championships.

As a refresher, the Aquatics GB selection policy for Singapore states that any individual Olympic medalist from the 2024 Olympic Games will have earned a slot on the roster. Additionally, any relay medalist who raced in the Paris final has also booked his/her spot on the World Championships relay.

With that criteria in mind, the following athletes have already been penciled in for Singapore for Great Britain:

• Ben Proud – men’s 50m free
• Matt Richards – men’s 200m free, men’s 4x200m free relay
• Duncan Scott – men’s 200m IM, men’s 4x200m free relay
• Adam Peaty – men’s 100m breast
• James Guy – men’s 4x200m free relay
• Tom Dean – men’s 4x200m free relay

The rest of the pack is fighting hard to earn their qualification against the stiff Aquatics GB qualifying standards, knowing that there are discretionary picks to be had as well.

Women’s 50m Back

After a rather disappointing women’s 100m back last night where no female dipped under the minute barrier, several women staked their claim on the 50m back event this morning.

Mount Kelly’s Blythe Kinsman, the reigning British Age Record holder for 16-year-olds, led the charge, grabbing the top seed in 28.09.

That already wiped out her former personal best of 28.29, the time she put up for bronze at last year’s European Junior Championships.

Lauren Cox of Loughborough, last night’s 100m back silver medalist, was next to the wall in 28.14. She’s been as fast as 27.20 in her career, a time from the 2023 World Championships that rendered her the second-fastest British swimmer in history.

Olympic relay gold medalist from Tokyo Kathleen Dawson is also in the mix, courtesy of the 28.95 she produced this morning as the only other swimmer under the 29-second threshold.

As we’ve mentioned, Aquatics GB does not dictate an outright qualification time for what they originally called ‘non-Olympic events’, which included 50s of breast, fly, and back. Swimmers may be discretionarily selected for these events, which have since been added to the LA 2028 Olympic program, or potentially have the 50 added to their lineup if they’ve already qualified for the 100m distance.

Women’s 200m Breast

As expected, 21-year-old Stirling swimmer Angharad Evans captured the top seed in the women’s 200m breast, turning in a solid morning effort of 2:25.36.

That set her apart from the field by a large margin, with Loughborough’s Lily Booker next in line nearly 5 seconds back in 2:30.21.

The 50m breaststroke victor here, Kara Hanlon, claimed the 4th seed in 2:30.43, but this is truly Evans’ race to lose.

Evans, the British record holder in the 100m breast, has already been as swift as 2:22.64 this season from February’s British Universities & Colleges Championships (BUCS). That ranks her #2 in the world, sitting only behind American Kate Douglass‘ mark of 2:22.60.

That performance also rendered Evans Great Britain’s 5th-best performer in history. She’ll need to be in range of that outing, given that the qualifying standard is positioned at 2:23.04, a threshold under which only 5 British swimmers have ever been.

Men’s 100m Back

Tonight’s 100m back final will be one of the highlights of the entire meet, with a battle brewing among Oliver (Ollie) Morgan, Matthew Ward, and Johnny Marshall.

Morgan earned the pole position with a casual morning swim of 53.14, followed by Ward, who punched 53.60. Marshall of Carnegie, as well as the University of Florida, hit a mark of 53.76 to put his hat in the ring.

Olympic medalist Luke Greenbank lurks as the 5th-seeded swimmer, although he hasn’t been on form as of late.

21-year-old Morgan of Birmingham has been the most consistent men’s 100m backstroke for GBR in recent history, collecting 7 performances under the 53-second barrier already in his young career.

He set the British national record of 52.70 from last year’s Olympic Trials and held the #1 time in the world before multiple Russians wreaked havoc on the rankings at their Swimming Championships. His season-best of 52.71 positions him 5th on the globe at the moment.

Morgan’s time this morning already dipped under the Aquatics GB-mandated QT of 53.30, although he’ll need to repeat that caliber of performance this evening.

As for Scottish national record holder Ward, his outing this morning already nailed a new personal best and new national standard, crushing his previous PB of 54.10 from last year’s Trials to show he is on a mission for tonight’s final.

Finally, Marshall has been as swift as 53.03 and carries the momentum of having finished 2nd in the yards version of the event at this year’s NCAA Championships.

Women’s 50m Free

Repton’s rising sprint ace Eva Okaro clocked a super speedy effort of 24.90 to rise to the top of the women’s 50m freestyle pack.

The 18-year-old broke through in a big way at last year’s Short Course World Championships, finishing 4th en route to setting a new World Junior Record of 23.66.

This morning, she posted the sole result of the field under the 25-second barrier, with her time only being .10 off her lifetime best of 24.80 from the Edinburgh International Swim Meet last month.

Rebecca Guy of Bristol Henleaze snagged the 2nd seed in 25.24, dipping under her previous PB of 25.30 as a sign she’s ready to take on Okaro in tonight’s final. Guy is 32 years of age as the oldest competitor in the field.

Versatile ace Theodora Taylor, a two-time European Junior Championships medalist in breaststroke events, bagged the 3rd seed in 25.30, just a hair off her lifetime best of 25.27 from last summer.

The finalists are looking to fill the void that Olympian Anna Hopkin left behind when she announced her retirement last December. She represents just one of two swimmers who have ever been under the Aquatics GB QT of 23.61 needed for Singapore.

Men’s 100m Free

No one held back in the men’s 100m freestyle as athletes are vying not only for an individual slot on the roster but are also hunting for a coveted spot on the 4x100m free relay.

Olympic multi-medalist Matt Richards busted out a result of 48.07 as a rapid marker, splitting 22.99/25.08 in the process. That easily overtook his previous season-best of 48.58 from January’s City of Sheffield meet.

Repton’s 17-year-old Jacob Mills crushed a monster personal best of 48.11 to snag the 2nd seed.

Mills has been on a steep upward trajectory, beginning with a personal best of 49.61 logged at last year’s Rotterdam Qualification Meet, followed by an even quicker PB of 49.33 at last month’s Edinburgh International Meet.

That means this morning’s result marks the teen’s first-ever foray under the 49-second barrier and, just like that, he rockets up the all-time British rankings to become the 6th-fastest man ever.

Olympians Alex Cohoon, Jacob Whittle, Tom Dean and Jack McMillan are also serious contenders.

Cohoon secured the 3rd seed in 48.23, just .03 off his PB of 48.20. Whittle was 48.55, Dean fired off 48.63 and McMillan registered 48.83 as the other swimmers under the 49-second barrier.

Lewis Burras missed making the final, finishing 11th in 49.53. He’ll need to step it up in the 50m free to make the squad.

The world rankings have been rattled after this morning’s onslaught. Richards takes over slot #4, Mills is now 5th and the other sub-49-second contenders are among the top 10.