2025 SWIM ENGLAND NATIONAL WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, December 11th – Sunday, December 14th
- Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield, England
- SCM (25m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview
- Draft Program
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
- Start Lists/Live Results
Day three of the 2025 Swim England National Winter Championships unfolded last night from the storied Ponds Forge International Swimming Centre in Sheffield.
Among the evening’s top performances was a monster 50m freestyle outing at the hands of 17-year-old Gabriel Shepherd of Leeds.
Shepherd ripped a huge lifetime best of 21.24 to get to the wall first, beating 23-year-old Olympian Alex Cohoon in the process.
Cohoon settled for silver in 21.31 while another 17-year-old, Abduljabar Adama, rounded out the podium in a stellar 21.44.
As for Shepherd, his 21.24 outing demolished the former British Junior Record in this event. That previous benchmark stood at the 22.14 Olympian Jacob Whittle put on the boks in 2019.
Shepherd dipped under the 22-second barrier first in the heats here, logging a mark of 21.67.
Prior to that outing, Shepherd’s lifetime best rested at the 22.68 notched over a year ago. That means he hacked well over a second off his previous PB, nearly unheard of in the 50m freestyle in that span of only about a year.
Shepherd now ranks as GBR’s #5 performer in history.
Of note, Adama’s 21.44 also surpassed Whittle’s former mark.
Top 5 British SCM 50 Freestyle Performers All-Time
- Ben Proud – 20.18, 2023
- Lewis Burras – 20.88, 2023
- Matt Richards – 21.09, 2023
- Mark Foster – 21.13, 2001
- Gabriel Shepherd – 21.24, 2025
I don’t think it’s really of note that Adama passed the former British record. He’s not British!