Wilby Posts World’s #3 100 Breast Time; Scott Anchors In 48.22 At BUCS

2019 BUCS LONG COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• British Universities & Colleges Sport Championships (LCM)
• Friday, February 15th – Sunday, February 17th
• Ponds Forge, Sheffield
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Entries
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Live Results

Commonwealth Games champion James Wilby completed his trifecta of breaststroke wins at the 2019 Brutish Universities & Colleges Championships, taking the 100m sprint this evening in Sheffield. He helped Loughborough take home its overall title with a total of 389 points.

Below are the top 5 squads, combined men’s and women’s:

After winning the 50m in 27.45, the 200m in 2:09.71, Wilby wrangled up his 3rd BUCS Record of the meet by taking the 100m breast in 59.42. That, too, overtakes the previous BUCS Record of 59.61 that the 25-year-old Loughborough athlete threw down at the 2018 edition of the meet.

He holds a personal bet of 58.64 from last year’s European Championships and remains just the 2nd British man ever to dip under the 59-second threshold in the 100m breast event.

Wilby’s performance tonight narrowly beat the 59.43 he put up on the Gold Coast last year for silver in the event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games behind teammate and Olympic champion Adam Peaty. Now Wilby inserts himself above Peaty in the overall world rankings, coming in as #3 and relegating Peaty to #4 this season.

Another Commonwealth Games champion was in the pool tonight in the form of Scottish maestro Duncan Scott. After logging a 48.25 stellar split as a member of University of Stirling’s gold medal-winning men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, the 21-year-old clinched the 200m fly victory this evening.

Touching in a modest 2:00.47, Scott was well off his own personal best of 1:56.60 from the Commonwealth Games, a mark that earned him a somewhat surprise bronze medal. But, Scott’s time tonight was enough to hold off a charging Plymouth swimmer in Tom Beeley, who came on strong on the back-half to threaten the gold in a very close 2:00.68.

Sarah Vasey, Imogen Clark and Katie Matts were all 3 in the running for breaststroke gold once again at this year’s BUCS, but it was Commonwealth Games gold medalist Vasey who got her hand on the wall first in tonight’s 100m breast. Vasey earned the top prize in 1:08.06, with last night’s 50m breast winner, Clark, taking silver in 1:08.39.

Manchester Met’s Matts rounded out the top 3 in 1:09.30.

French swimmer Marie Wattel, who represents Loughborough, doubled up on gold medals this evening, first taking the women’s 100m free in a new BUCS record. Last year Wattel took the win in 54.33, but tonight the 21-year-old shaved .11 off that mark to register a winning effort of 54.22. Her mark sits just outside the top 10 performances in the world this season.

Wattel’s next victim was the 50m fly, where she notched a time of 26.41 to beat the field. Anna Ntountounaki added hardware to her 100m fly gold from last night with a silver behind Wattel this evening in 26.50.

Last night’s 200m freestyle head-turner, Tom Dean of Bath, took the men’s 200m IM this evening in a mark of 2:00.25. He was able to surge ahead at the end and hit the wall ahead of Sheffield Hallum’s Max Litchfield. Litchfield settled for silver in 2:00.50.

Dean’s mark overtook the previous BUCS record set by the aforementioned Scott of 2:00.89 from last year.

Relay-wise, the Loughborough women were too tough to beat in the 4x100m medley, as the combination of Mollie Allen, Clark, Atkinson and Wattel punched a time of 4:07.15

Stirling topped the men’s relay, beating longtime dominator Loughborough. The foursome of Martyn Walton, Craig Benson, Scott McLay and Scott collected a winning effort of 3:38.59. Scott anchored in a swift 48.22, the only sub-50 second split of the entire field.

Additional Winners:

• Loughborough’s Charlotte Atkinson won the women’s 200m fly in 2:11.03.
• Edinburgh’s Jack Thorpe was the men’s 100m free winner in 50.06.
• The women’s 200m IM saw Abbie Wood come out on top in 2:14.69. She holds the BUCS record with her 2:13.84 winning effort from last year.
• Calum Bain took the men’s 50m fly in 24.40.
• Stirling’s Cassie Wild won again, this time in the 100m back in 1:01.44, while Luke Greenbank took the win for the men in 54.97.