2016 British Championships Day 1 Finals Live Recap: Peaty Alert

2016 BRITISH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS/OLYMPIC TRIALS

• Tuesday, April 12th – Sunday, April 17th
• Tollcross International Swimming Center, Glasgow, Scotland
• Prelims at 10am local/6am EDT; Finals at 6:30pm local/1:30pm EDT
• British Swimming 2016 Olympic Games Selection Policy
• Live Streaming
• DRAFT Psych Sheet
• Start Lists/Results

*Note on Finals Session: The schedule of events will feature three finals – a senior final targeted at the Rio Olympics and European Championships in London, a Target Tokyo Final for potential additions to the European Championship in London and a Junior Final for those looking to qualify for the European Junior Championships in Hungary. For the purposes of this article’s context, we will be reporting on the ‘senior final’ of each event.

MEN’S 400 FREESTYLE – FINAL

• British National Record – 3:43.75, James Guy (2015)
• British OLY Standard – 3:44.81/3:43.50
• The Podium –
  • James Guy,  3:43.84 (*Automatic*)
  • Stephen Milne, 3:46.53
  • Jay Lelliott, 3:47.68

Just one man dipped under the British automatic-qualifying Olympic standard of 3:44.81, as the 200m freestyle World Champion, James Guy, notched tonight’s first victory in a time of 3:43.84. That’s an outstanding time for the 20-year-old freestyle stud, just off the 3:43.75 lifetime best and British National Record he set in his silver medal performance in Kazan.

Guy now stands as the 2nd-fastest 400m freestyler in the world this season, positioned only behind Australia’s 19-year-old Mack Horton who cranked out a gold medal-winning time of 3:41.65 earelier this week at the Australian Trials. With his first place finish and automatic-qualifying time, Guy has just qualified for his first Olympic Games.

Hoping to also fall under the OLY standard was Perth City’s Stephen Milne, who held on to his 2nd place spot from prelims to finals, but stopped the clock in a time of 3:46.53. That’s still a monster personal best for Milne, but not a guaranteed time to get him to Rio. The British selection policy states it may ‘consider the option of further athletes’, so we’ll have to wait and see if Milne falls into the consideration category once the meet is done and dusted.

Bronze tonight went to Bath University’s Jay Lelliott, who earned a time of 3:47.68, just off his personal best of 3:47.50 from the 2014 European Championships, to round out the top 3.

If you’re wondering where last year’s silver medalist is, Scottish swimmer Dan Wallace didn’t make it out of prelims having settled for an 11th place (3:53.47).

WOMEN’S 200 FREESTYLE – FINAL

• British National Record – 1:55.54, Joanne Jackson (2009)
• British OLY Standard – 1:55.88/1:55.06
• The Podium –
  • Jazmin Carlin, 1:57.62
  • Eleanor Faulkner, 1:58.05
  • Georgia Coates, 1:58.54

The 800m freestyle bronze medalist at the 2015 FINA World Championships, Jazmin Carlin, got the job halfway done tonight in the shorter 200m event in terms of Olympic-qualifying. Carlin touched ahead of the field, but her time of 1:57.62 falls short of the 1:55.88 British-dictated standard.

Carlin’s mark of 1:57.62 bumped the Bath University swimmer up from her 2nd seed after prelims, as well as knocked a healthy amount of time off her morning mark of 1:59.33. However, for British fans it’s disappointing that Carlin’s time last year was quicker by close to a second, as she won the event in 1:56.88 at the 2015 edition of the event. That time, too, falls short of the OLY standard, but at least she would be moving in the right direction time wise had she gotten closer to it. However, the 200m freestyle is the weakest of her 3 events, which also includes the 400m and 800m freestyle races later in the meet.

Also dipping under the 2:00 mark tonight was Sheffield’s Eleanor Faulkner, who raced her way to a new personal best of 1:58.05. Bronze medalist tonight, Georgia Coates, was about half a second behind, touching in 1:58.54 to also rack up a lifetime best. At just 16 years old, Coates earned a new age group record with her outing tonight.

Of note, on-the-rise star Coates had qualified in the finals of both the 200m freestyle and the 400m IM, but scratched the 400m IM to focus on this event. With a bronze as a teenager, the strategy appeared to pay off.

MEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE – FINAL

• British National Record – 57.92, Adam Peaty (2015)
• British OLY Standard – 59.38/59.03
  • The Podium –
    • Adam Peaty, 58.41 (*Automatic*)
    • Ross Murdoch, 59.31
    • James Wilby, 1:00.05

After throwing down a monster, world-leading 58.74 prelim swim, all eyes were on Adam Peaty to see if he would make a move against his own world record of 57.92, a time he set at this same meet in 2015. Although after the race the record still stands, Peaty did lower his own season-best to an incredible 58.41. His performance tonight, as well as the fact he’s the only sub-59 breaststroker at the moment, further places him under the ‘favorite’ label for gold in this event in Rio.

University of Stirling stand-out Ross Murdoch did a nice job of coming in 2nd with a new season best of 59.31. That mark lowers his 59.82 from the morning and puts him in the running for consideration by the British Swimming Federation personnel involved in making the subjective decision. The automatic qualifying standard for Britain is 59.03.

Of his race, Murdoch stated, “I’d have liked to have gone faster, PB’d but I’m within 2% of the [qualifying] time so, hopefully, it’s enough for Rio.”

Peaty and Murdoch were the only swimmers to venture into the sub-minute territory tonight, as bronze medalist James Wilby of Loughborough stopped the clock at 1:00.05 for bronze.

Peaty remains as the number one swimmer in the world in this event, where Murdoch’s time checks in as the 8th-fastest.

WOMEN’S 400 IM – FINAL

• British National Record – 4:31.33, Hannah Miley (2009)
• British OLY Standard – 4:35.46/4:31.15
• The Podium –
  • Hannah Miley, 4:33.40 (*Automatic*)
  • Aimee Willmott, 4:35.52
  • Abbie Wood, 4:43.07

Garioch’s Hannah Miley a time of 4:33.40, a mark which ranks among the 26-year old’s 10 best performances in the event. Runner-up Aimee Willmott had Miley through the fly and the backstroke, albeit just by .05 of a second heading into the breaststroke. That 3rd leg is where Miley made her move, earning a breaststroke split of 1:16.71 to ride the wave home for the gold.

Reassuring to Miley is the fact that her win also comfortably rests under the British automatic qualifying standard of 4:35.46, so Miley has indeed punched a ticket to her 3rd Olympic Games appearance.

For Willmott, the London Aquatics swimmer still had a terrific outing, touching in 4:35.52 behind Miley for silver. Willmott has been as fast as 4:33.01, the time it took to earn silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and clocked a 4:34.82 just in January of this year. Her time tonight falls just agonizely short of the 4:35.46 automatic standard, but looks to be a solid swim for consideration.

Loughborough’s Abbie Wood clinched the bronze in the women’s 400m IM, coming into the wall in a time of 4:43.07, the 2nd best performance of the 16-year-old’s career.

Miley now sits as the 2nd-fastest swimmer in the world in the event behind Hungary’s Iron Lady, Katinka Hosszu. Willmott’s time from January still stands as the 3rd fastest, with tonight’s time falling in at 5th place in the world rankings.