Skye Carter Clocks First Sub-55-Second 100 Free On Penultimate Night Of Aquatics GB Next Gen

2025 AQUATICS GB NEXT GEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Saturday, July 19th – Friday, July 25th
• Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield, England
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Entries
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap/Day 5 Recap
• Live Results

We saw the penultimate night of racing unfold at the 2025 Aquatics GB Next Gen Championships, the competition formerly known as the British Summer Championships.

The 50m freestyle was on the agenda for the men, with Mt Kelly’s Abduljabar Adama taking the boys’ 17/18-year-old category with relative ease.

The 17-year-old fired off a time of 22.27 as the sole swimmer of the field to dip under the 23-second barrier as a follow-up to his 100m fly silver from last night.

Adama’s performance represented the Nigerian national’s best-ever performance, overtaking the 22.45 logged at this same event last year. That means tonight’s effort also checks in as a new Nigerian national record as well.

In the open men’s category, 100m freestyle runner-up Jordan Cooley upgraded to gold, stopping the clock at a mark of 22.47.

That barely held off Calvin Fry, who settled for silver in 22.48 while Thomas Watkin rounded out the podium in 22.65.

Already the winner of the men’s open 100m backstroke here, Bath’s Matthew Ward also found success in the 200m IM tonight.

Ward punched a result of 1:59.04 to handily clear the pack in the sole time of the field under the 2:00 threshold.

Behind him was Stirling’s David Annis who collected silver in 2:00.85 as Charlie Hutchison, a University of Florida commit who represents Loughborough, bagged the bronze in 2:02.52.

As for 20-year-old Ward, his outing here represented a big-time personal best. Entering this competition, Ward’s PB rested at the 2:00.15 from April’s Aquatics GB Championships/World Championship Trials.

He dropped that down to 1:59.13 during this morning’s heats before landing on his shiny new lifetime best of 1:59.04, a mark which now renders him Great Britain’s 13th-quickest performer of all time.

Also hitting a personal best tonight was 17-year-old Skye Carter en route to winning the 17/18-year-old girls’ 100m freestyle event.

Carter registered a result of 54.78, splitting 26.35/28.43 in the process of scoring the sole sub-55-second result of the final.

Wycombe District’s 17-year-old Annabelle Compton was next to the wall in 55.66 followed by Sheffield’s 17-year-old Phoebe Cooper who touched in 55.74.

As for British Age Record holder Carter, tonight’s performance checked in as a monster personal best, beating the 55.53 notched in February of this year. And, just like that, the Basildon Phoenix swimmer becomes GBR’s 15th-best performer in history.

As quick as Carter was, it’s important to note that the British record for 18-year-old girls remains at the 53.31 Olympian Freya Anderson registered at the 2019 World Championships.

Additional Notes

• 21-year-old Evelyn Davis of the University of Stirling put up a time of 54.94 to take the open women’s 100m freestyle. That was within striking distance of the lifetime best of 54.69 she established over 4 years ago to rank as GBR’s 13th-best performer in history.
• European Junior Championships gold medalist in the girls’ 400m IM, Amalie Smith demonstrated her versatility by capturing the 50m backstroke victory tonight for the 16-year-old girls. Smith earned gold in a time of 29.35, holding off Birmingham’s Isabelle Price who settled for silver in 29.64 as the only other sub-30-second swimmer in the race.
• European Junior Championships multi-medalist Blythe Kinsman followed up her 50m fly personal best from last night with a victory in the 50m back for 17/18-year-old girls this evening.