The National Arena Swimming League held its annual meet in Cardiff, Wales, hosting some of the biggest swimming names in the United Kingdom. The League is the UK’s premier swimming organization, comprised of seven regions that cover the majority of swimming clubs across the country.
By a margin of 20 total points, Plymouth Leander earned its fourth consecutive Cup Title, this time over second place Guildford City and Millfield School who finished in third. Plymouth Leander certainly had some aces up its sleeves with the likes of Ruta Meilutyte and Ben Proud competing under its flag.
Notable Results
Lithuanian Meilutyte snagged the women’s 200m IM title, winning the event in a time of 2:16.33. The time was not enough to influence the world rankings, but was enough to hold off Georgia Coates of the City of Leeds, who finished closely behind in a time of 2:16.70 for second place. Meilutyte also took home the win in the women’s 100m breaststroke race, clocking a swift 1:07.99 for her efforts.
Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen made some waves in the women’s 100m butterfly event, taking the top spot in a time of 57.92 to clear the field by over three seconds. The time ranks Ottesen as 9th in the world to pair with her already 2nd-ranked time of 57.23 from the Danish Open this past March.
Great Britain’s Lauren Quigley was the clear winner of the women’s 100m backstroke, touching the wall by over a second faster than the remainder of the field, clocking a 1:01.00 to swim away with the victory. 1:00.16 was the time Quigley earned as the runner-up at this year’s British National Championships. Quigley also got the job done in the women’s 100m freestyle event at this meet, touching the wall ahead of the competition in a time of 55.97 for the win.
Newly-crowned 100m breaststroke world record holder Adam Peaty blew the field away by over three seconds in the event at this time around. While well off his incredible world-topping time of 57.92 registered at the British Championships earlier this month, Peaty’s time of 1:01.98 at this competition was enough to rack up the points for his Derby club.
Plymouth Leander swimmer Ben Proud accompanies both Quigley and Peaty on Great Britain’s 2015 FINA Worlds roster, and was victorious in the men’s open 100m freestyle against another Worlds roster member at this meet. Proud earned first place in a time of 50.16, over a second faster than Callum Jarvis, who finished in a time of 51.27 competing for Ellesmere.
She is apparently dating one of the swimmers who represented Guildford. The Arena League eligibility rules are pretty loose…rumours abound that GB national teamers routinely show up for teams willing to pay them enough or clubs coached by old friends.
OK, so she was swimming with Guildford but for some reason her results are not shown in the British Swimming rankings website. They are shown in the Arena League results file, though: http://www.swimmingresults.org.uk/swimming/results/2015/arenaa/
Ottesen? Can’t see her time in the results tables (http://www.swimmingresults.org/showmeetsbyevent/?targetyear=2015&masters=0&pgm=1&meetcode=16809) and as far as I know she doesn’t swim for any of the UK clubs competing in the Cup final. So that’s a strange paragraph inserted in the middle of this report.
bsanchez – Yes, THE Jeannette Ottesen (Denmark) was swimming alongside age groupers at this meet. I’ve included the link to results within the piece now.