Pernille Blume Rocks 24.51 50Fr On Day 1 Of Edinburgh International

2017 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL SWIM MEET

• Friday, March 10th – Sunday, March 12th
• Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh, Scotland
• Prelims at 9am local (4am Eastern); Finals at 5pm local (12pm Eastern)
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream
• Meet Preview
• Results & Meet Mobile – ‘Edinburgh International 2017’

The first of three days of the 2017 Edinburgh International Swim Meet did not disappoint, with the 2016 Olympic champion, Pernille Blume of Denmark, cranking out the heat in her signature event. The meet serves as the 22-year-old’s post-Rio debut, and she crushed the 50m freestyle field, throwing down the only 24-point marks of both the morning and evening.

First this morning, Blume registered a swift 24.68 to check-in with the 6th fastest outing of her own career, only to top it later in the day with a winning time of 24.51 to win the skins-formatted contest. The Danish swimmer’s lifetime best is the 24.07 she scored in Rio to shock the field and take the gold medal, so sitting within less than half a second of that effort at this point in the season is potentially foreshadowing what she may have in store come Budapest. For now, Blume’s 24.51 mark enters the world rankings as the 5th fastest time this season.

University of Stirling’s Ross Murdoch snagged the men’s 200m breaststroke win, touching in 2:12.07 to win by over a second. The 2016 European Champion in the event competed recently at the Arena Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis, where he earned a time of 2:13.08 for 5th place overall.

Teammate Duncan Scott was also present in Indy for the Pro Swim and took on the 200m IM today in Edinburgh, further demonstrating this 19-year-old, two-time Olympic silver medalist’s notable range. Having dipped beneath the 2-minute threshold just once in his young career in this race, Scott owned the final tonight in a speedy 2:00.99, splitting 25.79/30.16/36.55/28.49 to establish a new meet record. In Indy, Scott’s mark was 2:00.48, so he’s regularly knocking on the 2-minute barrier’s door.

The women battled in the 100m distance of the breaststroke discipline today, where we saw Sweden’s Jennie Johansson score the win in a time of 1:07.43. That edged out Derventio Excel’s Imogen Clark by just .15 of a second, with Clark settling for silver in 1:07.58. Clark most likely is still happy with that result, however, seeing how she knocked almost a full second off of her previous personal best of 1:08.46 from the Arena Pro Swim Austin this past January.

Additional Winners:

• University of Stirling’s Kathleen Dawson worked her magic on the women’s 100m backstroke, taking the win in 1:00.36, crushing the field by just under 3 solid seconds.
• The men’s 100m backstroke belonged to Swim Ulter’s Conor Ferguson, who nabbed the victory in 55.69, the only sub-56-second outing of the field.
• Loughborough flymeister Adam Barratt got the job done in the 50m distance today, winning the 50m fly in 23.92.
• Holly Hibbott registered the 2nd best time of her career in the 200m butterfly, as the Stockport Metro Swimming Club athlete notched a 2:11.15 to win the event.
• A lackluster men’s 200m freestyle was void of any sub-1:50 marks, with Denmark’s Daniel Skaaning topping the podium in 1:51.05.
• Edinburgh’s mixed 4x50m medley relay claimed gold with Lucy Hope, Euan Inglis, Raquel Matos and David Cumberlidge collectively earning a time of 1:46.10, establishing a new meet record in the process.