2025 BUCS LONG COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, February 14th – Sunday, February 16th
- Ponds Forge International Swimming Centre, Sheffield, England
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Draft Entries
The 2025 British Universities & Colleges (BUCS) Long Course Championships kick off on Friday with plenty of star power headed to the Ponds Forge International Swimming Centre. Athletes representing Loughborough, Stirling, Edinburgh and beyond will dive in over the course of the 3-day affair, vying for team points.
As a refresher, in each event, only the fastest individual from each institution will score points. Individual events will be scored by 1st place being awarded 20 points, 2nd place 19 points, continuing with a decreasing points scale for subsequently ranked placings in the order of 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, etc. down to 1 point.
While not a selection meet, this competition serves as an important benchmark ahead of the all-important British Swimming Championships on the calendar for April 15th-20th. That meet represents the sole qualification opportunity for swimmers not already qualified for this year’s World Championships.
Per the Aquatics GB selection policy for Singapore, any individual Olympic medalist from the 2024 Olympic Games will have earned a slot on the roster. Additionally, any relay medalist who raced in the Paris final has also booked his/her spot on the World Championships relay.
With that criteria in mind, the following athletes have already been penciled in for Singapore for Great Britain:
- Ben Proud – men’s 50m free
- Matt Richards – men’s 200m free, men’s 4x200m free relay
- Duncan Scott – men’s 200m IM, men’s 4x200m free relay
- Adam Peaty – men’s 100m breast
- James Guy – men’s 4x200m free relay
- Tom Dean – men’s 4x200m free relay
Of the aforementioned, only James Guy is entered in these BUCS Championships, labeled as ‘guest’. The 29-year-old star is slated to race the 200m and 400m free, the latter of which he raced recently at the City of Sheffield meet last month. There he notched a time of 3:48.91 in his first performance in that distance since the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Guy earned bronze there in Glasgow in a time of 3:45.32 while his lifetime best remains at the British national record of 3:43.75 he established en route to snagging silver at the 2015 World Championships behind champion Sun Yang of China (3:42.58).
Olympians Freya Anderson, Freya Colbert, Laura Stephens and Max Litchfield are also among those to watch as the action unfolds this weekend as are University of Florida commits Charlie Hutchison and Alex Cohoon.
Backstrokers Luke Greenbank and Oliver Morgan will be in the pool, as will be Angharad Evans, Jacob Peters and Archie Goodburn.
Look for distance twins, Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen and brother Nathan Wiffen, sprinkled among the events as well.
Key Entries for 2025 BUCS LC Championships
Freya Anderson
Kieran Bird
Lily Booker
Cam Brooker
Greg Butler
Alex Cohoon
Lauren Cox
Freya Colbert
Leah Crisp
Angharad Evans
Conor Ferguson
Kornelia Fiedkiewicz
Josh Gammon
Archie Goodburn
Luke Greenbank
Lucy Grieve
James Guy
Lucie Hanquet
Medi Harris
Holly Hibbott
Charlie Hutchison
Evan Jones
Fleur Lewis
Joe Litchfield
Max Litchfield
Keanna MacInnes
Tyler Melbourne-Smith
Ed Mildred
Oliver Morgan
Honey Osrin
Jacob Peters
Leah Schlosshan
Katie Shanahan
Laura Stephens
Jacob Whittle
Daniel Wiffen
Nathan Wiffen
Abbie Wood
I’m surprised to see Holly Hibbott still battling on. I hope she has left Bath now.
Apparently Ponds Forge has just shut, today, Tues 11th at 3pm UK time.
It’s due to a ‘police incident’ a couple of hundred metres away in some apartments. There’s a gunman with possible bomb-making equipment; residents from neighbouring buildings have been evacuated to the sports complex. All classes and bookings are cancelled and it sounds like the situation is ongoing.