Joe Litchfield Posts 100 Fly Personal Best To Close Out 2024 Edinburgh International

2024 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL SWIM MEET

• Friday, March 8th – Sunday, March 10th
• Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh, Scotland
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Draft Entries
• Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap
• Results
• Livestream

The 2024 Edinburgh International Swim Meet wrapped up tonight with several notable athletes getting some tune-up racing in ahead of next month’s all-important British Swimming Championships (Olympic Trials).

We reported how 27-year-old Olympian Duncan Scott had put up a collection of impressive in-season performances, including a 1:46.14 200m free. Tonight, the Stirling star raced in the men’s 100m free, capturing gold in a time of 48.61.

Scott opened in 23.35 and closed in 25.26 to produce the sole sub-49-second result of the field. Behind him was teammate Jack McMillan who touched in 49.41 while the Netherlands’ Sean Niewold rounded out the podium in 49.90.

As for Scott, his time tonight crushed the 50.45 he put up at the 2023 edition of this competition, lending credence once again to the fact that he is looking sharp and focused heading into Trials.

Also looking sharp is Olympian Abbie Wood, with the Loughborough ace reaping gold in the women’s 200m IM event.

Wood touched in a time of 2:10.06 to beat the field by nearly 2 seconds. Newly minted world champion in the 400m IM Freya Colbert was next in 2:12.02 while Katie Shanahan bagged bronze in 2:13.50.

Wood’s outing represents a season-best, outperforming the 2:11.20 logged at last month’s World Championships. 25-year-old Wood now ranks 10th in the world on the season, with her race tonight coming within a second of her best-ever 2:09.15 from the 2020 Olympic Games.

Shanahan was back in the pool to contest the women’s 200m back. The 20-year-old European Championships silver medalist in the event logged a time of 2:09.52 to win the event by over a second.

She remains GBR’s #3 performer all-time in the event, owning a personal best of 2:07.45 from the 2023 World Championships.

Joe Litchfield made some noise in the men’s 100m fly final, registering a time of 52.65 to get to the wall first.

That gave him a healthy advantage over runner-up and European Junior/World Championships gold medalist  Casper Puggard of Denmark who touched in 52.92. Scott was also in the water for this event, turning in a bronze medal-worthy 53.35.

Litchfield’s result is a big-time personal best, overwriting his previous PB of 54.45 from this same competition last year. The Loughborough swimmer now ranks as the 8th-best GBR performer over the past 12 months and puts his hat in the ring for a potential Olympic bid.

Standing in his way at next month’s British Trials will be Jacob Peters, James Guy, Ed Mildred, Lewis Fraser and Jamie Ingram, among others.

As for Scott, his time this evening was just .01 off his career-quickest as another indication the multi-Olympic medalist is brewing something dirty for next month’s Trials.

Additional Notes

• 31-year-old James Wilby grabbed the men’s 50m breast victory in a time of 28.00.
• Commonwealth Games champion Brodie Williams topped the men’s 200m back event in a result of 1:59.68.
• Scotland’s Kara Hanlon produced a result of 2:27.00 to win the women’s 200m breaststroke.
• The women’s 100m free saw Dutch swimmer Milou Wijk get it done for gold in 55.25, just .01 ahead of 400m IM world champion Freya Colbert‘s 55.26.
• Max Litchfield followed up his 400m IM victory with gold in the 400m free in a time of 3:51.01.
• Sweden’s Emmy Hallkvist topped the women’s 50m fly event in a time of 26.83. That’s a new PB for the 16-year-old, outperforming the 26.95 registered for 6th place at the 2023 European Junior Championships.