2020 Edinburgh Int’l Swim Meet Is Still On & Here Are 5 Races To Watch

2020 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL SWIM MEET

• Friday, March 13th – Sunday, March 15th
• Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh, Scotland
• 50m (LCM)
• Psych Sheets
• Live Stream

Just this week alone due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation worldwide, meets spanning the Italian Olympic Trials to the U.S.-based YMCA Nationals to the Norway-hosted Bergen Swim Festival have all been cancelled due to concerns over the international outbreak.

However, the 2020 Edinburgh International Swim Meet is still going strong, with organizers following the guidance of the Scottish government regarding the virus.

That advice is as follows:

At this moment in time we have received no recommendation for postponing or canceling any upcoming Championships; however, we are monitoring the situation and will follow advice and guidance from all relevant government agencies, including Health Protection Scotland.

#1 Women’s 200 Fly

Several British big guns are slated to race this women’s 200m fly event, including Charlotte Atkinson, Alys Thomas, Laura Stephens, Emily Large, Hannah Miley, Keanna MacInnes and visiting Irish racer Ellen Walshe.

Atkinson has been a mainstay in this event for some time, with the 23-year-old having been the 2017 British Champion. A year later she became Isle of Man’s first athlete to compete in an individual Commonwealth Games swimming final for 48 years when she placed 4th in the 200m fly and 5th in the 100m fly events at the Gold Coast edition of the quadrennial competition.

However, last year Atkinson placed just 4th in this 200m fly event and is looking to give the competition a good run this time around in the hopes of making the Tokyo team. We’ll see what she puts up against the reigning champion from those Commonwealth Games, Thomas, who at 29 years of age is still very relevant as the reigning British champion in the race.

Stephens was right behind Thomas at the 2019 British Championships, however, and recently posted the 2nd fastest time of her career with a 2:08.94 just last month while competing on the FFN Golden Tour.

#2 Men’s 200 Free

The men’s 200m free event worldwide casts a wide net of talent, ranging from American Townley Haas to Aussie Clyde Lewis to Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto and Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys, just to name a tiny handful of the elite contenders.

Great Briain alone carriers a heavy hand in this event, highlighted by the competitors lined up for this weekend including World Championships bronze medalist Duncan Scott, 2015 World Champion in the men’s 200m free James Guy, and their domestic rivals to the tune of Calum Jarvis, Tom Dean, Cameron Kurle, Max Litchfield and Stephen Milne.

Between Scott and Guy alone, the pair own the top 2 times ever recorded by British men, with the former owning the current national record in 1:44.91 while the latter has been as quick as 1:45.14 from his aforementioned world title.

Scott posted a time of 1:47.32 already this year while competing at the McCullagh International, a time which ranks the Stirling man 12th in the world this season. Guy was very near that mark in January as well, hitting a 1:47.50 at the Flanders Cup to also position him among the top 20 performers globally this season.

#3 Women’s 100 Breast

The upper tier of this women’s 100m breast here in Edinburgh looks almost identical to the field we saw at the McCullagh International last month.

That means we’ll see Siobhan-Marie O’Connor try to maintain her win streak ahead of countrywomen Sarah Vasey, Molly Renshaw and more, while Irish swimmers Mona McSharry and Niamh Coyne try to spoil an all GBR podium parade.

At McCullagh, O’Connor grabbed the gold in 1:08.14, tying Vasey in the process, while McSharry settled for bronze in 1:08.20 and Renshaw was right behind in 1:08.25 We’ll see how close these women will be to one another once again this weekend, with Belgian Fanny Lecluyse thrown into the mix.

#4 Men’s 200 Breast

As with the women, many of the same men’s 200m breaststroke contenders from McCullagh are back for more, including Adam Peaty. Although the Loughborough man bowed out of the 2breast final at McCullagh, he did manage to put up a time of 2:14.64, his fastest outing in this non-signature event in over 2 years.

For Peaty, Ross Murdoch, James Wilby, Darragh Greene and more, however, they are ever pushed by the kinds of times Dutchman Arno Kamminga keeps throwing down, as well as Zac Stubblety-Cook and Matthew Wilson who have emerged over the last year from Australia in this men’s 200m breast.

#5 Men’s 200m IM

The men’s 200m IM in America got even more competitive by way of Michael Andrew logging his best-ever outing of 1:56.83 at the Pro Swim Series in Des Moines last weekend. That’s putting pressure on the rest of the world, including the British 200m IM would-be Olympians such as those competing here this weekend.

Duncan Scott once again will be in the field, along with 400m IM Olympic finalist Max Litchfield and former Florida Gator Mark Szaranek.

A promising star still rising in this event takes the form of 19-year-old Tom Dean. The teen took the 200m IM gold and 400m IM silver at the 2017 European Junior Championships while backing up that 2IM gold a year later at the same competition.

Dean’s first senior competition was the represented by the 2018 European Championships where he placed 9th out of the 200m IM heats in a time of 2:00.32, but both he and Scott were shut out of the final by fellow GBR squadmates Szaranek and Litchfield.

Flash forward to the 2019 British Championships and Dean fired off a big-time 1:58.89 to be named to the World Championships squad. There in Gwangju, Dean produced a new lifetime best of 1:58.34 to put his name on the British Swimming map as his nation’s 9th fastest performer all-time in this event.