Cam Brooker Breaks British SCM 200 Back Record, Jumps To #17 All-Time

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
• Start Lists/Live Results

Cam Brooker shattered his personal best in the SCM 200 back at the Swim England Winter Championships This evening, also shaving 0.17 seconds off Luke Greenbank‘s British Record in the event. Brooker swam 1:48.36 tonight, which would have also garnered him the silver medal at the European Short Course champs last week, behind World Junior Record-setter Jon Shortt of Ireland.

Brooker set his previous best of 1:51.03 in the semi-finals of the 2023 European Championships, before going on to place 6th in the final in 1:51.25. As such his swim tonight was an improvement of 2.67 seconds, a huge drop to overtake Greenbank, Craig McNally and Chris Walker-Hebborn in the all-time British rankings.

Greenbank was also in the field tonight, clocking 1:48.91 for his third-fastest performance ever. That was seven-tenths quicker than he was in Lublin last week, where he placed 4th.

These are two of the four fastest British swims ever in the event, with Greenbank holding all of the top five other than Brooker’s.

All-Time Top 5 British Men’s 200 Back Performances 

1. Cam Brooker (12/11/25) – 1:48.36
2. Luke Greenbank (12/05/23) – 1:48.53
3. Luke Greenbank (11/21/20) – 1:48.65
4. Luke Greenbank (12/11/25) – 1:48.91
5. Luke Greenbank (11/14/25) – 1:49.31

Brooker also now ranks 5th in the world this year.

The biggest difference compared to his previous best was on the second half of the race. He flipped at halfway in 53.09, just four tenths faster, but held 27-mids for the final two 50s in comparison to 28.64 and 28.91.

HIs margin over the previous record came on the first 100, as Greenbank closed two tenths faster on both the third and fourth 50s. He had just enough of a buffer to stay ahead of Greenabnk, as he did in the flesh tonight as well.

Brooker was not at his best in the 23/24 season, missing the ‘A’ final at Olympic Trials and adding nearly two seconds in the 200 back to miss qualifying for the British team, one year after making his first senior squad for the Fukuoka World Championships.

He rebounded to set a best time of 53.63 in the 100 back at the 2025 British World Trials, again missing qualification but setting his first PB in long course backstroke for two years.

Brooker will have the 50 and 100 back later in the meet, where he will hope to come close to Ollie Morgan‘s newly-minted British Records of 22.85 and 49.55, respectively. The Birmingham swimmer placed 5th and 3rd at the recent European Short Course Championships in those events, showing the recent rude health of British sprint backstroke after a lean period through the second half of the 2010s.

Brooker cracks the top-20 in history after tonight’s swim, and is 9th among active swimmers. Despite not being selected for the Euro SC team last week, he is making a strong case to be included in next December’s World Short Course Championships in Beijing.

Top 10 Men’s SCM 200 Backstroke Performers All-Time

1. Hubert Kos (HUN) – 1:45.12, 2025
2. Mitch Larkin (AUS) – 1:45.63, 2015
3. Arkady Vyatchanin (RUS) – 1:46.11, 2009
4. Evgeny Rylov (RUS) – 1:46.37, 2020
5. Ryan Lochte (USA) – 1:46.68, 2010
6. George Du Rand (RSA) – 1:47.08, 2009
7. Ryan Murphy (USA) – 1:47.34, 2018
8. Radoslaw Kawecki (POL) – 1:47.38, 2014
9. Thomas Ceccon (ITA) – 1:47.49, 2025
10. Markus Rogan (AUT) – 1:47.64, 2009
11. Leon Marchand (FRA) – 1:47.68
12. Jon Shortt (IRL) – 1:47.89
13. Shaine Casas (USA) – 1:48.01
14. Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) – 1:48.02
15. Masaki Kaneko (JPN) – 1:48.25
16. Jiayu Xu (CHN) – 1:48.32
17. Cam Brooker (GBR) – 1:48.36
18. Lorenzo Mora – (ITA) – 1:48.43
19. Luke Greenbank (GBR) – 1:48.53
20. Mewen Tomac (FRA) – 1:48.55