Gammon & Blocksidge Highlight Day 2 Of 2024 Rotterdam Qualification Meet

2024 ROTTERDAM QUALIFICATION MEET

• Thursday, November 28th – Sunday, December 1st
• Rotterdam, Netherlands
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Entries/Results
• Day 1 Recap
• Livestream

The 2024 Rotterdam Qualification Meet continued from the Netherlands with British swimmers making their marks on the 4-day competition.

The men’s 100m fly saw 21-year-old British champion Joshua Gammon take the top spot, earning gold in a time of 52.80.

Opening in 24.73 and closing in 28.07, Gammon of Bath turned in the 10th-best time of his young career, with his lifetime best remaining at the 51.65 he posted in the semi-finals of this year’s European Championships. There in Belgrade, Gammon ultimately placed 8th overall with a final swim of 52.32.

Behind Gammon this evening was British teammate Jacob Peters who touched in 53.93 while Dean Fearn, also from GBR, clocked 54.05 for bronze.

15-year-old freestyle budding star Amelie Blocksidge grabbed the gold in the women’s 1500m free, registering 16:25.31 to get the job done.

That gave her a very healthy advantage over Leah Crisp who was next to the wall in 16:46.51 while 17-year-old Clara Martinez De Salinas Pena of Spain rounded out the podium in 16:48.49.

As for Blocksidge, she’s been as quick as 16:10.04, the British Age Record she produced in February of this year to become the 3rd-best British performer in history.

Additional Winners

• Germany’s Moritz Erkmann was the top men’s 1500m freestyler, but by a narrow margin. He touched in 15:24.36, with Spanish swimmer Cristobal Vargas Trujillo just a hair behind in 15:24.53, settling for silver. Another German swimmer, Johannes Liebmann, landed on the podium in 15:31.59 for bronze.
• Belgium’s Sarah Dumont was too quick to catch in the women’s 400m IM, logging 4:46.20 as the gold medalist. Right behind her was Hungary’s Eszter Szabo Feltothy who turned in 4:46.89 and GBR’s Amalie Smith hit 4:48.09 for 3rd place.
• British swimmer Blythe Kinsman of Mount Kelley produced a time of 28.59 to top the women’s 50m back podium, within striking distance of her lifetime best of 28.29 from this year’s European Junior Championships where she took home bronze.
• Scott Gibson touched in 25.52 to take the men’s 50m back. He is GBR’s 3rd-best performer ever, owning a career-quickest mark of 24.83 from last year.
• The men’s 200m breast saw Max Morgan get the gold in 2:12.69 ahead of fellow British swimmer Filip Nowacki who settled for silver in 2:13.62. Christoffer Tofte Haarsaker of Norway produced 2:13.75 to also land on the podium.
• Cristobal Vargas Trujillo of Spain posted 4:22.58 as the top men’s 400m IM swimmer.
• Scottish national record holder Kara Hanlon hit 2:27.16 to win the women’s 200m breaststroke event.
• Sandra Maria Balto of Norway won the women’s 100m fly in 1:00.25 ahead of Britain’s Skye Carter who touched in 1:00.56. Theodora Taylor, a 2-time European Junior Championships medalist this year, posted 1:00.94 for bronze.