Watch Ben Proud Rock 21.73 British 50 Free Record At BUCS

While competing at the British Universities and Colleges Sport Long Course Swimming Championships (BUCS) on February 20th, on-the-rise British sprinter Ben Proud  lowered his own 50m freestyle British record.

21-year-old Proud of the University of St. Mark and St. John stole the show on the 2nd night of finals at Ponds Forge, surging to the top of the 50m freestyle podium in a time of 21.73. That mark wipes just .03 of a second off of his own British record of 21.76 he set during prelims of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, but in the splash n’ dash, every nanosecond counts.

Video courtesy of John Davies

Proud has steadily been moving up the ranks internationally in the sprint freestyle events, making his moves primarily in the 50m free and 100m free races. Heading into this meet, Proud’s quickest 50m free this season was the 21.95 he registered at the Luxembourg Euro Meet just last month, but his performance tonight rockets him to the 4th position in the world rankings this season, tied with Aussie sprinter Cameron McEvoy.

Proud’s fastest 100m freestyle long course is the 48.70 he scored in prelims at last year’s British National Championships, where he ultimately came in 2nd place in the final, behind Calum Jarvis. Proud clocked 48.83 to Jarvis’ 48.79 at that meet, but Proud will get his crack at the longer sprint tomorrow at BUCS.

The Plymouth Leander club swimmer Proud holds Great Britain’s national records in the short course versions of the 50 and 100m freestyle events, reaching times of 20.74 and 45.97, respectively, at ASAs last December.