2022 SWIM ENGLAND WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, December 2nd – Sunday, December 4th
- Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield, England
- SCM (25m)
- Day 1 Recap
- Live Results
The 2022 Swim England Winter Championships continued on from Sheffield, with Olympian Matt Richards making his mark in a big way.
Competing in the heats of the men’s 100m freestyle, 19-year-old Richards fired off a new lifetime best and British national record of 45.94.
Opening in 22.18 and bringing it home in 23.78, Richards claimed the top seed by well over a second. His time sliced .03 off of the previous British standard of 45.97 Ben Proud put on the books way back in 2015.
Entering this meet, Richards held a personal best of 46.58. As such, today represents the first time the Millfield swimmer delved under the 46-second threshold. He represents just the 2nd British man to accomplish that feat.
All-Time British SCM 100 Freestyle Male Performers
- Matt Richards, 45.94 2022
- Ben Proud, 45.97 2015
- Duncan Scott, 46.09 2019
- Adam Brown, 46.75 2009
- Craig Gibbons, 46.90 2009
With the 2022 FINA Short Course Championships on the horizon, Richards’ prelim time of 45.94 now ranks him #4 in the world, sitting only behind world record holder Kyle Chalmers of Australia, Maxime Grousset of France and Kliment Kolesnikov of Russia.
With the final yet to come here at Ponds Forge, Richards’ morning outing would have rendered him the 4th place finisher in Abu Dhabi at last year’s Short Course World Championships.
2022-2023 SCM Men 100 Free
Chalmers
45.16
| 2 | Maxime Grousset | FRA | 45.41 | 12/15 |
| 3 | Jordan Crooks | CAY | 45.55 | 12/14 |
| 4 | Alessandro Miressi | ITA | 45.57 | 12/15 |
| 5 | David Popovici | ROU | 45.64 WJR | 12/15 |
Richards recently made the training base move to Millfield and the change appears to have given the teen a performance boost. Last month, Richards swam three new lifetime bests at the South West Regional Championships, including breaking two Welsh Records.
Prior to Millfield, he trained from September 2020 to September 2021 at Bath under Jol Finck, and then from September 2021 through long course Worlds under Dave McNulty (also at Bath).
45.85 in the final
I think my favourite thing about this video is the announcer not recognising at all that it was a British record.
This will be a good sign for British relays this season. Hopefully Dean, Guy, Scott and Richards could all have their stars aligned, as well as Burras and Whittle in the 100.
Honestly by the time Paris comes along I think Duncan won’t make the 4×100 free relay team. Dean, Whittle, Richards and Burras are all young and improving and now that Duncan is training for longer events (4IM), it’s a real possibility he won’t be quick enough to make that relay team. But then again Duncan always steps up and produces massive splits on relays so i wouldnt be surprised if he does get a finals spot in that relay.
His experience and reliability alone might get him a spot in the final.
Go on lad.
Wonder why the big change has happened since leaving McNulty?
McNulty’s an overrated coach imo.
Many athletes only survive 2 years of his intense methods if at all before plateauing. Given he gets all the best ones, are his results really that impressive?
Someone who will love me like Retta loves the phrase “as such”
Done.