Dawson Produces Scottish Record For #3 In The World This Season

2021 BRITISH SWIMMING INVITATION MEET

• Friday, March 12th – Sunday, March 14th
• Manchester Aquatic Center
• LCM (50m)
• Day 1 Recap
• Live Results
• Live Stream

Day 2 of the 2021 British Swimming Invitation Meet saw another national record go down, this time in the heats here in Manchester.

Kathleen Dawson of the University of Stirling crushed a new lifetime best of 59.36 to take the top seed of the women’s 100m backstroke. In doing so, she overtook her own Scottish national record of 59.68, a time she put up nearly 5 years ago. That previous Scottish standard had rendered Dawson the bronze medalist at the 2016 European Championships.

Splitting 28.96/30.40 this morning, Dawson is proving once again that she is back to form after a bout of injuries plaguing her over the past couple of years. Before the coronavirus pandemic, in March of 2020 Dawson neared this same backstroke record while competing at the Edinburgh International Meet. She produced a time of 59.74 as her 2nd fastest time ever as an indication that her body is back on track.

Dawson’s new Scottish standard tonight checks the 24-year-old in as the #3 swimmer in the world this season. Additionally, Dawson now frog hops Lizzie Simmonds to become Great Britain’s 3rd fastest woman all-time.

Additional Notes:

• Adam Peaty demonstrated his dominance in the men’s 50m breast, hitting a morning swim of 26.86 as the only sub-27 second swimmer.
• A trio of men got under the 50-second threshold in the 100m free, led by reigning European Junior Champion Matt Richards. Richards clocked 49.16, followed by Duncan Scott‘s 49.51 and Tom Dean‘s 49.83.
• Scott took on a double this morning, also racing the heats of the men’s 200m IM. There, he produced a sub-2:00 effort of 1:59.90 to top the field.
• Abbie Wood led the women’s 200m free in a time of 1:59.26 this morning, while Freya Anderson, the two-time 2019 European Short Course Champion, was right behind in 2:00.12.