British Championships, Day 1 Men’s Finals: James Guy & Greg Butler Clinch Titles In London
James Guy and Greg Butler claimed the 400 free and 100m breaststroke respectively at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in London.
Guy went out fast as he continued his return to the eight-length race while Butler broke the minute mark for the first time with former training mate Adam Peaty commentating on poolside.
The meet doubles as trials for the World Championships which run from 27 July to 3 August in Singapore where selection will be based on performances at the Paris Olympics and the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in London.
Swimmers who won a medal in an individual event at Paris 2024 will be selected to the Great Britain team for this event in Singapore.
Relay medallists will be selected subject to confirmation by the Great Britain head coach, Steve Tigg. The men’s 4×2 free quartet claimed an historic gold as they defended their title from Tokyo with Tom Dean and Guy joining Richards and Scott.
To qualify for worlds, a swimmer must finish first in an Olympic event and record a time that equals or betters those in the table below.
Athletes that finish second in a time equal or better than that in the table will be considered for selection to a team that will have a maximum of 30 athletes.
- Start Lists/Results
- Selection Policy
- Preview: Angharad Evans
- Preview: Ollie Morgan
- Aquatics GB YouTube Channel
- BBC Sport website/iPlayer
- Day 1 Prelims Report
400m Freestyle
Guy went out fast and reached the 100m mark with a two-second lead over Jack McMillan as he reached halfway in 52.59 to 54.64, an advantage he extended to 3.33secs at halfway. The 2015 world silver medallist maintained his lead at the head of the field and was still more than 4secs ahead at the final turn as he came home in 3:46.64, outside the cut for Singapore of 3:45.43. Tyler Melbourne-Smith came through for second in 3:49.38 with McMillan third in 3:50.05.
Guy said it was “an okay swim” adding: “I didn’t quite have the finish I wanted.” He said: “There’s more speed there but it’s managing that across the 400. But I only started training properly for it December, January time so it’s there but you’ve just got to learn keep doing it more and more pacing it a bit better.”
The three-time Olympic relay champion won his first global medal in long-course waters with silver at the World Championships in Kazan as a 19-year-old behind Sun Yang when he set the British record of 3:43.75 that stands today. He went on to win the 200 free individual in 1:45.14 and anchored the British 4×2 quartet to victory in 1:44.74 where he replaced an 18-year-old Duncan Scott. He finished sixth a year later at Rio 2016, a finishing position he replicated at the 2017 worlds before claiming bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games behind Mack Horton and Jack McLoughlin. But that was it until he told Swimming World during Paris 2024 that he intended to return to the 400. Guy, who is based at Manchester Performance Centre, went 3:48.91 at the City of Sheffield Winter Meet in January before going 3:48.78 at last month’s Edinburgh International Meet.
Of his reasons for returning to the 400, the five-time world champion told Swimming World: “I just feel like now being with Ryan (coach Ryan Livingstone), I just feel much more confident in what I’m doing and I’m aerobically fitter to do the 400 to a good level. I know I shouldn’t have given it up but I wasn’t enjoying the way I was doing it, I wasn’t really seeing much progression whereas now the 200 is probably the best it’s ever been, it was a PB in Paris leading off (in the 4×2 prelims). So why not for the 400? I’d come from that 400 background down so I just felt like why not race it? Doing this event I had nothing to lose at all – at the end of the day I’m the oldest one in the field by quite a little bit – they should be beating me, I shouldn’t be beating them – that’s how I kind of see it really.”
100m Breaststroke
Adam Peaty was on poolside watching on as former City of Derby and Loughborough teammate Greg Butler broke the minute mark for the first time en-route to victory. Butler stopped the clock in 59.93 ahead of Max Morgan who set a 17-years age group record of 1:00.10 with Filip Nowacki third in 1:00.28.
Butler – whose time was outside the automatic 59.65 QT – said of going inside a minute: “It feels really good. It’s been a long time that I’ve been trying to get under 60 seconds, so to finally do it here, I’m really happy about it. I’m getting on really well with Dave and Scott [Goadby] in Loughborough, it’s going well. I’ve been doing a lot of work on my dive, some technical points, and just thinking through the process,”
With longtime coach Mel Marshall’s switch to Australia, Butler is now being guided by Dave Hemmings and Scott Goadby in Loughborough. He described it as “a nice change” before being asked about Peaty who embraced him on poolside. “I always used to like having Adam around and racing Adam: it was really inspiring and really nice. I’ll be looking forward to when he comes back for the 50!”
