2025 Aquatics GB Championships Day 2 Prelims: Duncan Scott Is Hunting 200 Fly Qualification ...Middle East

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2025 AQUATICS GB SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

We entered day two of the 2025 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, the sole qualifying competition for this summer’s World Championships.

Last night, we saw two individual qualifiers make the grade as Keanna MacInnes roared her way to a new Scottish record in the women’s 200m fly and world champion Freya Colbert crushed a lifetime best in the 200m free to become Great Britain’s second-swiftest performer in history.

Additionally, the top 4 individual 200m free finishers collectively clocked a time good enough to secure a slot for the women’s 4x200m free relay.

Let’s see who staked their claim on events for this morning’s prelims as the action unfolded from the London Aquatics Centre.

Refresher: As in the past, Aquatics GB has set some tough qualification standards, which are outlined in the selection criteria and preview bullets above. Also, as in the past, the British coaching brain trust will reserve ‘discretionary’ selections so there is a chance athletes can still make the team if they miss the QT.

Men’s 50m Breast

The best British men’s breaststroker in history, Adam Peaty, is not racing at this competition, which leaves the door wide open for an up-and-comer to try to put his mark on the 50m sprint.

After a painstakingly close qualification call in last night’s 100m breaststroke, 17-year-old Max Morgan rebounded with a solid top-seeded effort of 27.64 in this shorter sprint.

That’s already within striking distance of the 27.52 lifetime best the Reed swimmer logged at last year’s British Summer Championships.

Behind him was Archie Goodburn, the 23-year-old who continues to inspire by racing despite having been diagnosed with three inoperable brain tumors last June.

Goodburn of Edinburgh was also sub-28-seconds with a second-seeded time of 27.75 followed by Swansea’s Lewis Fraser‘s mark of 28.00.

Another teen in 17-year-old Filip Nowacki is lurking as the 5th-seeded athlete at 28.09.

Of note, Aquatics GB does not dictate an outright qualification time for what they originally called ‘non-Olympic events’, which included 50s of breast, fly, and back. Swimmers may be discretionarily selected for these events, which have since been added to the LA 2028 Olympic program, or potentially have the 50 added to their lineup if they’ve already qualified for the 100m distance.

Men’s 200m Butterfly

22-year-old Ed Mildred of Manchester Performance Centre ripped a new lifetime best en route to claiming the top spot in the men’s 200m fly.

Two-time European Championships relay medalist Mildred stopped the clock at a time of 1:57.02 to land lane 4 for tonight’s final. That overtook his previous best-ever performance of 1:58.00 from nearly 4 years ago.

However, Olympic relay gold medal teammates Duncan Scott and James Guy are also among the field, with the former snagging the 2nd seed in casual 1:58.85 and the latter claiming the 4th slot in 2:00.11.

Splitting the pair was Bath’s Josh Gammon who notched 1:59.93 to put his hat in the ring.

Swimmers will be chasing a stiff qualification standard of 1:54.97 set by Aquatics GB, a threshold under which only two GBR swimmers have ever been – Michael Rock and Guy.

Guy’s best-ever result of 1:54.91 from the 2022 World Championships rendered him the #2 British swimmer ever behind Rock’s national record of 1:54.58 from the supersuited 2009 World Championships.

Stirling’s Scott, the most decorated Scottish Olympian in history, owns a PB of 1:56.60 from earning bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Women’s 400m IM

As expected, the reigning world champion Colbert grabbed the top seed in the women’s 400m IM, cruising to a time of 4:44.79.

That holds a narrow advantage over Amalie Smith, just 15 years of age, who clocked 4:45.49 to claim the 2nd seed.

Colbert’s Olympic teammate Abbie Wood is also right in the mix, having nabbed the 3rd spot in 4:46.25.

While 21-year-old Colbert represents the 3rd-quickest British performer in history, owning a PB of 4:34.01 from last year’s Olympic Trials, rising star Smith has been making some moves of her own.

At the Luxembourg Euro Meet this past February, Smith cranked out a lifetime best of 4:41.70 to establish a new British Age Record, obliterating her then-career-fastest effort of 4:48.09 from November 2024.

Smith already earned bronze last night in the Junior Final of the 200m freestyle, producing a result of 2:00.71, just .27 off Ellen Gandy’s longstanding benchmark of 2:00.34 from 2007, which stands as the Age Record in that event.

Men’s 400m IM

The men’s 400m IM is 3-time Olympian Max Litchfield‘s race to lose as the Loughborough ace is historically far-and-away the best performer of the top 8.

Litchfield coasted to a #1 seed of 4:17.33 as the sole competitor of the field under the 4:20 mark.

Litchfield owns the national record of 4:08.85 from when he placed 4th in the event for the third consecutive Games. That rendered him just off the podium, only .19 away from bronze.

University of Florida commit Charlie Hutchison was the next-quickest swimmer this morning, securing the 2nd seed in a time of 4:20.76. His PB of 4:14.90 from last year positions him as GBR’s 10th best performer but he’ll have to blast that to bits in order to meet the tough Aquatics GB-mandated qualification time of 4:11.90 needed to automatically qualify for Singapore.

Women’s 100m Backstroke

European Championships silver medalist Katie Shanahan produced a time of 1:00.66 to take control of the women’s 100m backstroke heats, splitting 29.78/30.88 in the process.

That checks in as the 20-year-old Stirling swimmer’s best-ever performance, erasing the 1:00.70 logged at the Edinburgh International Meet. She remains GBR’s 13th-swiftest performer of all-time.

Loughborough’s Lauren Cox touched next in 1:01.11 while Holly McGill snagged the 3rd seed in 1:01.21. Blythe Kinsman of Mount Kelly, also touched in 1:01.21 to share 3rd-seed honors with McGill. Cox currently ranks 14th in the world in this event as a result of the 59.95 turned in at last month’s Edinburgh International Swim Meet.

Mixed relay gold medalist from Tokyo, 27-year-old Kathleen Dawson will also be hunting the 59.46 qualification time in tonight’s final, situated 5th in 1:01.54.

Dawson is the reigning British national record holder, courtesy of the 58.08 put up in 2021. Since then the Stirling standout dealt with a back injury for nearly 3 years which sidelined her performances.

However, she battled back and last year registered her first sub-1:00 performances since the Tokyo Games.

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