The 2015 ASA Winter National Meet in Ponds Forge, Sheffield wrapped up last night, but only after multiple British National Records fell. Catch the most impactful swimmers’ comments in their post-race interviews below.
Ben Proud
In the morning prelims session on the final day, sprinter Ben Proud cranked out another British Record to go along with the 50m and 100m freestyle marks he already threw down earlier in the meet. Proud roared to the wall in a time of 22.39 to overtake the previous national record of 22.87 held by a trio of athletes. Mark Foster, Anthony Jones and Adam Barrett all held the previous record, but Proud scorched it tonight.
Additionally, Proud led off his Plymouth Leander squad’s 400m freestyle relay with a huge opening 100m freestyle, crushing the 46-second barrier and blasting a new British National Record of 45.97. 46.69 was what Proud logged earlier in the meet to take the Winter Meet title and score a new National Record, so he knocked a clear .72 of a second off of that fresh new mark to further establish himself as the next big sprinter to come out of GBR.
Adam Barrett
A battle broke out between Adam Barrett and Nicholas Grainger from start to finish in the men’s 200m freestyle. Barrett led the entire way, but Grainger was never more than half a second behind and gave Barrett quite a challenge on that final 50m. Results include a season-best 1:43.72 for Barrett and in a personal best of 1:43.99. However, as described in the video, Barrett wasn’t happy with his swim. He was looking to go 1:42 and essentially says the swim epitomizes his 2015 season, one in which he assesses himself as merely mediocre.
Aimee Willmott
London Aquatics’ Aimee Willmott collected her 5th total medal from this meet, winning the women’s 400m IM on the final night in a time of 4:28.26. As the only sub-4:30 swimmer of the event, Willmott scored the 3rd best time of her career. Earlier in the meet, Willmott had come on strong earning the gold in the 400m freestyle (4:02.34) and 800m freestyle (8:19.81), the latter of which she describes in the video below.
Georgia Davies
Georgia Davies registered a time of 26.24 to win the women’s 50m backstroke, a mark which wiped away her own previous British National Record of 26.35 she has held since 2014.
Molly Renshaw
Molly Renshaw demolished the British short course record in the women’s 200m breaststroke with a podium-topping time of 2:18.44. That mark laid waste to countrymate Hannah Miley’s record of 2:20.61 that had been on the books since 2009. Additionally, Renshaw’s time would have taken gold at the recent European Short Course Championships in Netanya, Israel, beating Belgian Fanny Lecluyse’s mark of 2:18.49. Renshaw’s time now sits as the 2nd-swiftest in the world this season, only behind that of Melanie Margalis (USA) from last weekend’s Duel in the Pool.
Renshaw also raced her way to a win tonight in the 100m distance. The Loughborough swimmer threw down a time of 1:05.22 to shave .17 of a second off of the previous record held by Sophie Allen at 1:05.39. Said Renshaw of the gold medal-winning swim, “I am actually really surprised after that swim. I wanted to go under 65 so I’m really pleased that I was able to that.”