Kara Hanlon Cracks Scottish Record with 30.50 50 Breast at British Swimming Champs

2023 BRITISH SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, April 4th – Sunday, April 9th
• Prelims at 9:30 am local (4:30 am EDT)/Finals at 6:00 pm local (1:00 pm EDT)
• Ponds Forge, Sheffield
• LCM (50m)
• World Championships Qualifier
• World Championships Selection Criteria
• Draft Entries
• Live Results
• Livestream

DAY 1 FINALS RECAP

WOMEN’S 50 BREASTSTROKE

• British Record: 30.02 – Imogen Clark (2022)

Podium:

1. Kara Hanlon – 30.50
2. Sienna Robinbson – 31.46
3. Angharad Evans – 31.72

It didn’t take long for us to see the first national record of the 2023 British Swimming Championships. In fact, it only took until finals of the very first event: the women’s 50 breast. After Imogen Clark, the British Record holder in the event, was disqualified (30.09), Scotland’s Kara Hanlon won the event with her new personal best of 30.50.

Not only does Hanlon’s performance mark a new lifetime best in the event, she also took down the Scottish Record in the process. The previous record stood at 30.64 and was held by Corrie Scott from the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Coming into this finals session, Hanlon held a personal best of 30.99, meaning she took off a whopping 0.49 seconds with the swim tonight. On top of that, she now holds the Scottish Records in the SCM and LCM 50 and 100 breast, solidifying herself as the top women’s sprint breaststroker in Scottish swimming history.

With Hanlon having taken half a second off her top mark in the 50 breast today, it will be very interesting to see what that means for her 100 breast later in these championships. She already holds the Scottish Record in the LCM 100 breast at 1:06.75, which she just swam in February of this year at the BUCS Championships. In that race, Hanlon was out in 31.22, so we’ll see if she can take it out any faster at this meet.