2022 BRITISH SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, April 5th – Sunday, April 10th
- Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships & Commonwealth Games-qualifying competition
- British Swimming 2022 Budapest Selection Policy
- Commonwealth Games Selection Policies vary by home nation
- SwimSwam Preview
- Draft Entries
- Live Results
- Livestream
The all-important 2022 British Swimming Championships kicked off today from Sheffield, with swimmers vying for spots on both the World Championships and Commonwealth Games rosters.
As noted in our preview, several swimmers have been pre-selected to the roster for Budapest based on their results rendered at the 2020 Olympic Games. With that in mind, Tokyo finalists Max Litchfield and Molly Renshaw are not competing here, yet have secured their spots.
Additionally, the meet offers a chance for some swimmers to spread their wings, a la Adam Peaty trying the 200m breast on for size. The man recently raced the event at the FFN Golden Tour – Marseille, posting 2:14.48, but we’ll see what the world record holder has on tap for the event should he keep it on his schedule here in Sheffield.
As a reminder, the full British Selection Policy is linked above with the minimum time standards included at the bottom of this post.
Women’s 50m Breaststroke Top 8
National record holder Imogen Clark wasted no time making her presence known here in the first event on the day.
The newly-returned-to Derventio eXcel swimmer punched a statement swim of 30.77 to reap the top seed, registering the only 30-pt time of the field. Clark owns the national record with the 30.04 she put up at the 2018 European Championships, although she nailed a new SCM record of 29.32 just last November in the ISL.
Men’s 50m Backstroke – Top 8
The men’s 50m backstroke hets saw Edinburgh’s Scott Gibson land lane 4 with a smooth-looking 25.38. That outing already knocked .04 off of the man’s previous PB, a mark of 25,42 he hit just this past February at the British Universities & Colleges (BUCS) Championships.
In fact, Gibson’s result here logs a new Scottish national record in the event, giving him an extra boost heading into tonight’s final.
Olympian Joe Litchfield lurks as the #2 seeded swimmer out of the heats, posting 25.54, while another Joe in Joe Small is right there in 25.60.
Women’s 200m Freestyle Top 8
Olympians Abbie Wood and Freya Anderson led the way with a pair of 1:58’s in this tight women’s 200m freestyle event. The former topped the field in 1:58.80 while the latter was only .08 behind in 1:58.88.
Millfield’s European Junior Championships medalist Tamryn Van Selm is also in the mix at 1:59.07 while on-fire backstroke Medi Harris of Swansea lurks further down the line at 2:00.58 for the 5th seed.
Missing from the top 8 are Holly Hibbott and Lucy Hope who scored times good enough for the B-final only. Hibbott is more in the 400m/800m range while Hope is gunning for the 100m freestyle spot.
Going back to Anderson, the Bath swimmer is looking to improve upon her 12th place finish in this event from the 2019 World Championships. There in Gwangju, she posted 1:57.51 to miss out on the final, while since then she has been as fast as 1:56.06 to ranks as GBR’s #3 performer all-time.
Men’s 400m Freestyle Top 8
The top tier of the men’s 400m free played their cards close to their chest, as no one ventured under the 3:50 barrier this morning.
Swansea’s Olympian Daniel Jervis was the top performer of the heats, hitting 3:50.36, separating himself apart from the field by about 3 seconds.
The 4th seeded Kieran Bird is the man who took the national title at last year’s Olympic Trials, hitting a time of 3:46.00, becoming the 4th fastest man in British swimming history. He didn’t fare as well in Tokyo, however, clocking 3:48.55 to place 20th overall.
Jervis has also been under 3:50 in his career, owning a lifetime best of 3:47.57 from 2019. 25-year-old Jervis competed in the 1500m free at the 2020 Olympic Games, making the final and placing 5th there in Tokyo.
Women’s 400m IM Top 8
Two of the top three finishers from last year’s edition of this women’s 400m IM are missing, with winner Aimee Willmott and 3rd placer Hannah Miley both having announced their retirements. In fact, Willmott is doing the announcing here on the British Swimming live stream this time around.
The #2 swimmer from 2021, Lily Booker, casually clocked a time of 4:50.41 to snag the #4 seed while it was Sheffield’s Amber Keegan who topped the heats in 4:48.04.
She is joined by 17-year-old Katie Shanahan, who touched in 4:49.37 as the only other sub-4:50 swimmer. Shanahan raced this event at the 2021 FINA Short Course World Championships, making the final and placing 8th there in Abu Dhabi.
Men’s 100m Breaststroke Top 8
Olympic champion and World Record holder Adam Peaty led the way with a solid 59.55 morning swim in this men’s 100m breaststroke. He represented one of two sub-minute performers, paired with Loughborough teammate James Wilby who notched 59.90.
Two-time Olympian from Scotland, Craig Benson, got on the board with the 3rd-seeded swim of 1:00.19 while his Stirling teammate, Olympian Ross Murdoch, grabbed the 4th seed in 1:00.61.
This is a long shot, but does anyone know the DQ code for Robbie Jones in the 100 Breast?
Is it a surprise that wood took the 200 over the 400im?
Wood’s never really been a long course 400 IM swimmer, but she’s european champion in the 4×2 free relay so she was always doing that over the 4IM
While I do absolutely get the logic of choosing the 200 free over the 400 IM, I think it’s worth following up on the idea of her 400 IM. Her PB is a 4:37low from 2017. In that same time period, she’s improved her 400 IM in SC by 9 seconds.
I’m kind of surprised that her long course race hasn’t come down at all.
No I think the 200 is more open on the world stage ever since Summer went 4:29.
Are there consideration times for stroke 50’s?
For Commonwealth selections yes, for worlds selections no
I really hope they enter a women’s 4×200 at the worlds this time.
Freya Anderson and Abbie Wood both have gone 1:56 – 1:57’s.
Van Selm and Colbert are both only 18 and should have a chance on the team. I expect both to go 1:58’s minimum this evening in the finals.
Wouldn’t be near China, USA, or Australia based off last year’s results but can definitely be top 5 and if one team has an off day could be a dark horse for bronze.
Unless there are some really special swims tonight, unfortunately I can’t see them taking a women’s 4 x 200 team this year.
There’s also Canada so two teams would need to have an off day for GBR to medal.
Unfortunately can’t see the top 4 averaging 1:57.50 -which I think is what they need
GB has very little chance to medal with the team they got. Anderson and wood will definitely drop bombs or times close this evening. Van selm did a half second pb so can’t see her dropping any lower than 1.58 mid. Colbert only went 1.59 high just three weeks ago, very unrealistic to say she will go 1.58 minimum. The top four aren’t a medal contender this summer but by Paris, if they don’t change might have a shot, given Colbert and van selm (who is going to NC state) will develop further
Ok but let’s say Anderson and Wood go 1:56’s.
I think they’ll be very close to the 7:50 on combined times. Let’s say
Anderson 1:56.5, Wood 1:56.5, Van Selm 1:58.5, Colbert 1:59.0.
This would add up to 7:50.5 and I think is a real possibility.
The top 4 teams at the olympics all went below 7:43, and at the 2019 worlds, the top 5 all went under 7:48 mid. I’m not saying the team doesn’t have potential, but to say they can medal if one team has an off day is a bit delusional. The relay has to average 1:55-56 if they really want to secure a medal because the chances of the top three having an off day is highly unlikely considering they come to the championship meets with depth and can switch between heats and finals
Edinburgh were AMAZING, Stirling were rubbish 🙂
Don’t see you swimming
Agree to an extent. Edinburgh have always been there but overshadowed. Stirling have nobody but Duncan now. It is the Duncan show. – I’m sure some of the swimmers moving on have made that clear. Lucy Hope made the move away from Edinburgh after phenomenal swimming under Coach Trodden. She can’t have been happy with a 1.59. And then Emma Russell with a 2.02. The meet is still a long way to go until finished so it will be interesting to see the likes of Dawson too. Huge pat on the back for Edinburgh though. They have a very good support system in place there.
Kat, are you seriously suggesting Duncan is the only swimmer Stirling has? You are either incredibly misinformed or purposefully trying to mislead.
Obviously Duncan Scott stands out, he’s one of the best swimmers of all time, and full credit to he and his team for being so inspiring yet humble.
Lucy Hope is a good swimmer, she has a Pb of 53.89(+2sec back from what would be Emma McKeon’s Olympic winning time) as a Pb. Maybe she moved to see if a change could help her get to another level in a program that has a track record in doing so. It shouldn’t be an issue, coaches don’t own athletes yet to become bitter it seems when they leave. … Read more »