2019 BUCS SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, November 15th – Sunday, November 17th
- Ponds Forge ISC, Sheffield
- SCM
- Meet Info
- Entry List
- SwimSwam Preview
- Live Results
- Livestream
The 2019 British Universities & Colleges (BUCS) Short Course Championships kicked off with Loughborough taking the mixed medley relay convincingly.
The squad of Luke Greenbank, Imogen Clark, Marie Wattel and Alex Bowen fired off a time of 1:40.44 to get to the wall first and claim gold ahead of a 2nd Loughborough squad. Greenbank split 24.51 to hand off to Clark’s 29.80, while Wattel clocked 24.70 on fly and Bowen wrapped up his free anchor in 21.43.
The runner-up squad from Loughborough took silver in 1:42.99, while the University of Stirling put up a time of 1:43.47 for bronze.
Tonight’s individual races consisted of the men’s and women’s 1500m freestyle, where World Championships gold medalist Duncan Scott produced a lifetime best effort of 15:06.82 to claim the top prize.
Entering this competition, the 22-year-old versatile Stirling swimmer’s personal best rested at the 15:14.02 clocked back in 2016. He blew that to bits this evening, registering a mark over 7 seconds faster to check-in among the top 30 all-time British performers in the event.
For the women’s 1500m, it was Goggy Britton of UCL Swimming Club that produced a winning time of 16:38.33 to reap gold this evening in Sheffield.
Team points were not available at time of publishing.
So what – big deal it means nothing.
Wow. Scott really impresses me. He’s just gone from a strong 1500 time(for a non distance swimmer) to a 21.6 50 free and 4:06 400 IM in prelims. As well as comfortably qualifying for the 100 fly and 200 free.
Sorts London raws IM problem if he swins in the grand final. Or did he pull out? I can’t remember… He really is some athlete.
He definitely is still in as far as I am aware. Have my fingers crossed he competes in the European derby next week.
I was looking forward to see him swim at Budapest so I hope you’re right.
He’ll be in London this weekend for sure.
1.42.7 in the final.
Went out a *tad* too fast perhaps (48.7).
Having watched the swim back it looked pretty easy considering the very low stroke count and stroke rate. So with 46.1, albeit rolling and 15’06 perhaps without breaking sweat(we would need to ask him) there are some real signs that 1’44.9 is not the limit of this guy. If 47 high becomes mid/low with a clear aerobic ability he can threaten the 400 athletes in the 200 most definitely.
Scott actually has a very decent 400fr himself. He won the BUCS SCM title in the event in 2016 in a time of 3.40. Rapsys won World SC with a 3.36 last year so he isnt a million miles away.
Rapsys won with 3.34.0
Yes, I confused him with James Guys British record after checking all time lists in GB.
I really hope that fantastic anchor at the last Worlds medley relay will be considered a turning point in Scott’s career. He knows that he can swim at that level avoiding some ups and downs seen also at last Worlds. He knows that he can succeed.
Come on Duncan Braveheart Scott!
Goggy??! Lol
It’s Phyllida; Goggy is a nickname.
I swear this guy is gonna win a gold medal in the 200
Rapsys looks sublime, and Sun will always deliver if he is there, so I wouldn’t be too confident of a medal let alone a gold personally. That said, he has all the skills to go way under 1.45 so his name has to be in the mix.
Ya I mean he led off in 1:44.9 in Gwangju then went 46.1 anchor later on…he has all the makings of sub 1:44, I think he’s simply on the up-and-up BUT I agree with anyone that will downvote me that literally anything can happen in the next several months
I’d love him to do that, as a Brit. All the guys who’ve been 1:44 low or better in textile had a world class 400 free in the locker though (I know Phelps didn’t swim it much). That said, rules are there to be broken.
Lol Togger my friend this article is about how he went 15:06 SCM there’s no doubt in my puny mind that he’d flick 3:50 to the side
World Class is 3:44 or lower.
Scott 100 free LCM
2016 – 48.01
2017 – 47.90
2018 – 48.02
2019 – 47.87
consistent but only an improvement of 0.14 in 4 years, that could have come from anywhere, start/turn/finish/suit/hat/motivation etc
Scott 200 free LCM
2017 – 1:45.16
2018 – 1:45.34
2019 – 1:44.91
a drop of only 0.25 across 3 years, again this could be anything, including what lane he swam in and waves in the pool
Essentially he is swimming the same speed now as he was in 2016/17. For sure he has more versatility and experience to draw on now than then and part of being so good is just staying so good, not constantly… Read more »
Everyone seems to be looking at the 200 free as his main shot. But, I reckon by next year he may have a bigger shot at winning the 200 IM.
He’s got a lot of potential, for sure, but I don’t think dropping a small amount in an off event is going to have any significant impact on his bread-and-butter event. The mens 200 free is one of the more stacked events.. I wouldn’t feel comfortable betting on anyone.
Sven: the 200 free is stacked but so insanely weak. Ian Thorpe in 1999 in a speedo reincarnated would have just as likely a chance as anyone in this race. My bet is currently on Scott because he indeed has gone 1:44 (albeit .9) but also displayed outer space type finishing skills in the 400 medley relay to make me believe that he can dust basically anyone in that field if need be. He’s fast, has endurance, is young…I think he’s next
And yes, I am definitely, generally, a Duncan Scott fan (am American for what it’s worth)
It’s such a weak event post-Thorpe, that two IMers (Phelps/Lochte) were world champs in it and a flyer (Leclos) won an Olympic silver. I really don’t understand why it’s (can throw the 400 free in there, too) stagnated over the past 20 years. I guess Thorpe was really that great. Agree that Scott has the best potential to break from the pack.
Okay, but to be fair Phelps was actually faster than Thorpe in textile. He started taking the event to the next level. But emphasis on started. There’s been very, very little progress since Thorpe went 1:44.0.
Free might have been Phelps 3rd best stroke.
I totally agree with just about everything you said, the potential for Scott to put up an Agnel-esque time is definitely there. Whether he can put it all together and execute on the big stage next to Rapsys and Sun, I’m not so sure, and that’s why I wouldn’t make that bet right now. I was interpreting your original comment as “because he went a best 1500 SCM time, I am now even more convinced he will win a gold medal in the 200 LCM,” but I think now that that was a misinterpretation.
Agreed, right now Rapsys and Sun Yang (if he will be allowed to compete) have to be considered the favorites, but there are at least 10 other guys who could also win a medal (2 from Australia, 2 from the US, 2 from Russia, Scott, Matsumoto, Kozma, Guy, …). Maybe even Hagino will see this as his best chance for a gold medal.
Ah man I have a feeling he’s going to peak even more next year in the Olympics, better than we’ve ever seen him. He’s the perfect age to do it too at 23, maybe 24.