Meilutyte Returns to Competition in Edinburgh

2016 Edinburgh International Swim Meet

This weekend’s Edinburgh International will host some of Europe’s top swimmers, who will be competing for the meet titles and £8,950 of prize money. The competition will be run as standard heat and finals except for the 50 meter events, which will be a skins competitions where the number of competitors will go from 8-6-4-3-2.

After suffering a broken elbow in September Olympic Champion and world record holder Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania will look to return to competition. She had planned to make her return at the Euro Meet in Januar,ybut had to pull out because of the injury. Her coach John Rudd said that Edinburgh would be the target for her return and has given no indication that this would not be the case.

Meilutyte is entered in the 50 and 100 breaststroke where her toughest competition will come from Plymouth Leander teammate Moniek Nijhuis of the Netherlands. Sarah Vasey of Great Britain, who is currently ranked fifth in the world in the 50 breaststroke, will also race both events.

Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo will be competing in both the 50 and 100 meter freestyle. Inge Dekker still appeared on the list of competitors in both the freestyle and butterfly sprint events. The last time that the entries were published on February 17th, the same day that Dekker announced that she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Although she has stated that she wants to compete if it is possible and there is no indication that she has pulled out of the event one would suspect the likelihood of here racing is in jeopardy.

Siohan-Marie O’Connor of Great Britain and Dane Mie Nielsen will both challenge Kromwidjojo for the crown in the 100 meter freestyle.

O’Connor, who took the bronze in the 200 IM in Kazan, will be competing in the 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 IM. Both Hannah Miley and Aimee Willmott will compete in the 200 and 400 IM. Both women competed in the 400 final at the World Championships last summer and Willmott currently ranks second in the world.

Nielsen, who finished third in the 100 backstroke in Kazan, will also compete in both the 50 and 100 backstroke.

The biggest names on the men’s side of the competition will be vying for titles in the three breaststroke events. World champion Adam Peaty of Great Britain will be racing the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke. He will face tough competition in all three events. He will face Serbian Caba Siladji in the sprint events as well as Ross Murdoch, Michael Jamieson and Andrew Willis in the 100 and 200 meter distances.

Ben Proud of Great Britain, who recently set a new British record in the 50 freestyle posting a 21.73 that now places him fifth in the world rankings, will be racing the 50 and 100 freestyle as well as the 50 butterfly.

World Championship finalists Sebastiaan Verschuren of the Netherlands, Stephen Milne of Great Britain and Viktor Bromer of Denmark will all be competing. Verschuren will swim the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle, Milne will compete in the 200, 400 and 1500 freestyle while Bromer will race the 100 and 200 butterfly as well as the 400 IM.

 

In This Story

0
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

About Jeff Grace

Jeff Grace

Jeff is a 500 hour registered yoga teacher who holds diplomas in Coaching (Douglas College) and High Performance Coaching (National Coaching Institute - Calgary). He has a background of over 20 years in the coaching profession, where he has used a unique and proven teaching methodology to help many achieve their …

Read More »