Morning finals and top-class racing at Glasgow Meet help Bath-based swimmers continue their prep for Tokyo Olympic Games
University of Bath-based swimmers continued their build-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with some impressive performances at the British Swimming Glasgow Meet.
The event at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre replicated the Tokyo competition schedule, with heats in the evening and finals the following morning, and took place while swimmers are in a heavy training load.
Despite that, James Guy (pictured) got the competition off to an eye-catching start as he led a British Swimming National Centre Bath one-two in the men’s 100m butterfly in a time of 51.16 – just one tenth of a second slower than he clocked when winning bronze at last month’s European Championships. Jacob Peters was runner-up in 52.71.
“This meet is a prep meet, trying new things before Tokyo,” said Guy. “I’m in a great place, I feel really confident with what I’m doing. I think having that balance between swimming and lifestyle at home is really important. Everything is coming together quite nicely.”
Guy then placed third in another high-quality men’s 200m freestyle final (1:46.49) behind National Centre Bath training partner Tom Dean (1:46.46), the Bill Whiteley Sporting Scholar pushing winner Duncan Scott close for the third time in a month following the Olympic Trials and the Europeans.
Ben Proud, who is training with Mark Skimming’s student swimming squad in the build-up to Tokyo, clocked 21.93 for victory in a 50m freestyle final that saw National Centre Bath swimmer Matt Richards finish third in a new Welsh record time of 22.59. Proud went fastest again in Sunday’s 50m butterfly final, clocking 23.65 to finish ahead of Peters (23.87), while Richards was runner-up in the 100m freestyle (49.20).
Fellow freestyle specialist Anna Hopkin, a University of Bath Sport & Exercise Science alumna, continued her fine form in the build-up to her debut Olympic Games by winning the women’s 50m (24.83) and 100m (53.56) races.
National Centre Bath swimmer Holly Hibbott produced a composed performance to win the women’s 400m freestyle in 4:12.58.
The first final of the week saw Santander Sporting Scholar Luke Turley finish runner-up to Olympian Daniel Jervis in the 1,500m freestyle in 15:21.26, a result that was replicated in the following morning’s 800m final as Turley clocked 7:59.53.
Freya Anderson was runner-up in the women’s 200m freestyle (1:59.26) and Brodie Williams was third in the men’s 400m individual medley (4:24.13). There were also third-placed finishes in their respective 200m butterfly finals for Santander Sporting Scholar Jacob Greenwow (2:02.69), behind Sports Performance graduate Jay Lelliott, and National Centre Bath swimmer Emily Large (2:11.39).
Click here to find out more about swimming at the University of Bath, including public swim-fit sessions in the same pool used for training by Olympic and Paralympic stars.
