Oliver Morgan Proves Consistency With 100 Back Victory At Edinburgh International

2025 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL SWIM MEET

• Friday, March 14th – Sunday, March 16th
• Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh, Scotland
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Start List
• Results
• Livestream

The 2025 Edinburgh International Swim Meet kicked off today with the 3-day competition representing an in-season racing opportunity ahead of the all-important Aquatics GB Championships. That meet next month represents the sole qualifying meet for this summer’s World Championships in Singapore.

Right off the bat, 22-year-old Oliver Morgan of Birmingham blasted a winning time of 52.97 to take the men’s 100m backstroke.

Splitting 25.69/27.27, Morgan beat the field by over a second, with Matthew Ward snagging silver in 54.63 followed by Irishman John Shortt who bagged bronze in 55.22. Of note, Olympic medalist Luke Greenbank was also among the competitors, finishing 5th in a time of 55.22.

As for Morgan, the rising ace owns a lifetime best of 52.70, the current British record he established at last year’s Olympic Trials. That means tonight’s performance came within .27 of that mark, with the World Trials yet to come.

He already owns the #1 time in the world this season, courtesy of the 52.71 put up at February’s BUCS Championships.

The men’s 200m free was also a marquis event on night one, with Olympians Matt Richards, James Guy and Jack McMillan comprising the podium.

Richards, Paris silver medalist in the event, posted a gold medal-worthy result of 1:47.19 to get the slim edge over Guy who settled for silver in 1:47.26. McMillan rounded out the trio in 1:47.39 in the tight battle.

Look for these men, along with Duncan Scott and Tom Dean, to be among the top performers in London next month.

On the women’s side, we reported how the top 3 performers wreaked havoc on the world rankings, led by Dutch swimmer Milou van Wijk.

20-year-old van Wijk clocked a winning effort of 24.48 to grab the gold, hacking .22 off her previous best-ever performance of 24.70 notched just last month at the Flanders Swimming Cup.

Runner-up status went to Belgium’s Florine Gaspard who established a new national record of 24.53 en route to silver. Then, reigning SCM World Junior Record holder Eva Okaro of Great Britain nabbed a new PB of 24.80 as she claimed bronze.

Additional participants included Marrit Steenbergen who clocked 24.95 for 4th place followed by Belgian Roos Vanotterdijk who touched in 25.23 for 5th. Olympian Freya Anderson settled for 7th in 25.63.

Angharad Evans was another head-turning performer on the women’s side, throwing down an impressive in-season time of 1:06.38 in the 100m breast.

Evans opened in 31.49 and closed in 34.89 to turn in the 9th-fastest time of her rising career. Evans owns the British national record in this event with the 1:05.54 registered at last year’s AP Race International.

Scottish swimmer Kara Hanlon was next to the wall in 1:07.10 while Anna Morgan, also of Scotland, secured bronze in 1:07.36.

Additional Winners

• Israel’s Meiron Cheruti topped the men’s 50m fly field in 23.34. That eked out the victory ahead of Dutchman Nyls Korstanje who touched in 23.37 followed by Olympic medalist Ben Proud who captured bronze in 23.49. France’s Clement Secchi was 4th in 23.77 and Jacob Peters earned 5th in 23.86.
• The women’s 100m back saw Vanotterdijk get it done for gold in 59.77, one of just two performances under the minute barrier. Lauren Cox logged 59.95 for silver with Katie Shanahan rounding out the podium in 1:00.70. Olympians Freya Colbert and Abbie Wood were also in the pack, with the former hitting 1:01.00 for 5th and the latter turning in 1:02.06 for 7th.
• Olympian Laura Stephens was too quick to catch in the women’s 200m fly, posting 2:09.15 for the gold. That narrowly defeated Keanna MacInnes‘ time of 2:09.17 while Emily Richards (nee Large) hit the only other sub-2:11 time of 2:09.66.
• Leah Crisp struck gold in the women’s 400m free in 4:13.78, beating the field by nearly 3 seconds.
• Noah De Schryver snagged the top prize in the men’s 200m breast in 2:12.97.
• Olympic medalist Scott casually cruised to a winning result of 1:58.97 in the men’s 200m IM. Max Litchfield, Olympic finalist in the 400m IM, earned silver in 2:01.17 with University of Florida commit Charlie Hutchison right behind in 2:01.54 for bronze.