GBR’s Timothy Shuttleworth Is At A Loss For Words After 1500 Gold

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
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Loughborough’s Timothy Shuttleworth entered the 2016 British Olympic Trials with a personal best 1500m freestyle time of 15:15.74, a time which he earned just last month.

But the 18-year-old shattered that mark en route to winning told in the event tonight in Glasgow, stopping the clock in a mighty 14:55.23. That was enough to hold off 400m freestyle silver medalist from this meet, Stephen Milne, and most likely grab a spot on Britain’s Olympic team.

Although his 14:55.23 time falls short of the 14:55.11 British automatic-qualifying time for Rio, Shuttleworth’s outing does remain within the 14:59.64 2% consideration standard, making his outlook a positive one in terms of qualification.

After his race, Shuttleworth simply couldn’t hide his excitement, repeating the word “unbelievable” when asked to describe his race. “I knew I had it in me, but I didn’t expect it to happen straight away,” he said.

Video courtesy of British Swimming.

As originally reported by Loretta Race:

MEN’S 1500 FREESTYLE – FINAL

• British Record – 14:45.95, David Davies (2004)
• 1st Place OLY Standard – 14:55.11
• 2% Consideration – 14:59.64
• The Podium –
  • Timothy Shuttleworth, 14:55.23
  • Stephen Milne, 14:59.10
  • Daniel Fogg, 15:01.60

Even before the start of the race the field was shaken up a bit by 5th-seed Jay Lelliott scratching out of the event. Citing illness, his social media apologized to friends and family for having to pull out of the event.

But, the race came down to a 1 & 3 Loughborough University finish, headed up by Timothy Shuttleworth. Shuttleworth improved upon his 15:17.28 prelim time with an impressive sub-15-minute outing, stopping the clock tonight in 14:55.23 for the win. That time is painstakingly outside of the British automatic-Olympic qualifying standard of 14:55.11, but is well within the 2% consideration cut-off and should be enough to be selected to the Rio roster. His outing also puts the Brit just outside of the world’s top 5 in the rankings this season.

Of his race, Shuttleworth commented, “It’s unbelievable! I just can’t believe it.” Unbelievable is about accurate, as tonight marks the first time Shuttleworth has clocked a time in the 14-minute zone, as his best headed into the meet was the 15:15.74 he scored just last month.

The only other sub-15-minute time came from Perth City’s Stephen Milne, who already earned a 2016 silver medal in the men’s 400m freestyle behind James Guy. Milne won this 1500m event last year, but settled for runner-up status with a time of 14:59.10 this year, a time that will be on the bubble for an invite.

As for Milne, he said post-race, “I did my best, it was a great race but now I need to focus fully on the 200m [freestyle] tomorrow.”

Daniel Fogg was the other Loughborough swimmer to step onto the podium, improving from 4th after prelims to 3rd place tonight, registering a time of 15:01.60.