British Consideration Roster Adds Joe Litchfield, Harriet Jones & More

• Wednesday 14 April – Sunday 18 April
• Heats 10am / Finals 7pm local time
• London Aquatics Center
• British Swimming Olympic Selection Policy
• Main selection for the Olympic Games
• Entries
• Day 1 Finals Recap
• Live Results
• Live Stream

Day 1 of the 2021 British Olympic Selection Trials saw several names added to the consideration roster for this summer’s Games in Tokyo.

Among them was 28-year-old Aimee Willmott who smoked a winning time of 4:35.70 in the 400m IM to dip under the British Swimming-mandated Olympic consideration threshold of 4:36.68 en route to clocking her fastest time since 2018.

Harriet Jones also broke through on the women’s side, crushing a personal best of 57.79 to add her name to the consideration roster in the 100m fly. She was the only one who cleared the British Swimming/FINA ‘A’ cut of 57.92 needed to book a ticket to Tokyo.

Leading off the action was two-time European Short Course champion Freya Anderson who clocked a solid time of 1:56.80 to top the women’s 200m free. She added her name to the Olympic roster, potentially setting herself up for at least a double individual qualification with the 100m free coming up later in the meet.

The men’s side of the house was also alight with top swims to the tune of Duncan Scott‘s British Record in the 200m IM and Kieran Bird‘s surprise victory in the men’s 400m free.

In the former event, Scott busted out the swiftest 200m IM of his career in 1:55.90, checking in as the top performer in the world this season in the process. His time also overtook Max Litchfield‘s previous British standard of 1:56.64 to become the nation’s first-ever sub-1:56 200m IMer.

Joining Scott on the podium was Joe Litchfield, most like qualifhying for his first Olympic Games, while the aforementioned Max Litchfield placed 3rd. Elder Litchfield’s time of 1:58.43 dipped under the FINA ‘A’ cut of 1:59.67, of note.

For Bird, the 21-year-old hacked nearly 5 solid seconds off of his previous 400m free PB to be considered for the Olympic Games with a winning effort of 3:46.00. He became Great Britain’s 4th fastest performer all-time, tying Stephen Milne, with his remarkable performance.

Finally, the men’s 100m breast solidified Adam Peaty and James Wilby as the British Olympic qualifiers. Peaty posted his 15th outing under the 58-second barrier with 57.39 while Wilby was within half a second of his career-quickest in a runner-up outing of 58.76. Rounding out the top 3 was Ross Murdoch who, in 59.51 missed the British QT but got under the FINA ‘A’ cut of 59.91.

British Swimmers Having Achieved National Olympic Qualifying Times

1. Adam Peaty – 100m breast (pre-qualified)
2. James Wilby – 100m breast (pre-qualified)
3. Duncan Scott – 200m free (pre-qualified), 200m IM
4. Luke Greenbank – 200m back (pre-qualified)
5. Freya Anderson – 200m free
6. Kieran Bird – 400m free
7. Aimee Willmott – 400m IM
8. Harriet Jones – 100m fly
9. Joe Litchfield – 200m IM