British Championships, Day 1 Women’s Finals: Freya Colbert Rattles British 200 Free Record & Keanna MacInnes Makes 200 Fly Cut
Freya Colbert rattled the British 200 free record and a final-50 charge propelled Keanna Macinnes to 200 fly victory as the pair were the sole swimmers to post world qualification times at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in London.
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.
While swimmers who won a medal in an individual event at Paris 2024 will be selected to the Great Britain team for that event in Singapore, no British women reached the podium in the French capital.
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
Women’s 50m Breaststroke
Hanlon returned in the evening to claim the first title of the six-day meet. The Scot was the only woman inside 31secs in 30.80 followed by Anna Morgan (31.28) for a University of Edinburgh 1-2 with Jasmine Carter clinching third from lane eight in 31.40.
Hanlon said: “It’s a nice kind of swim for day one. I’m really happy to come away as British champion in the 50. I’ve never swum a 50 in this pool so it’s nice to come, swim fast and enjoy it.”
Women’s 200 Fly
Keanna Macinnes came from 0.36 down at the final turn to clinch the national title and a trip to Singapore courtesy of a winning time of 2:07.14 that was 0.82 inside the worlds cut. The University of Stirling swimmer fired off a 32.67 final 50 to overhaul Emily Richards who finished second in 2:08.25 with world champion Laura Stephens next home in 2:09.70.
MacInnes, who lowered her own Scottish record, said: “I think I had been a little bit anxious coming into this one, speaking to my coach I had been doing a lot less fly this year than I’ve done in previous years to prevent injury. I was not sure about this one, but my coach said there’s more than one way to swim successfully so need to learn to trust him more.
“It’s not easy to make the team, they make it hard! It was really tough and mentally going into that I was nervous. I thought I could have it in the bag if I was still with the girls at the 150 mark. I’ve been working on my front end and going out a bit quicker, and if I want to go a 2:06 I need to go out quicker on the first 50, but then I was finding I was slowing down on the second 50. I was told to relax, and I know my body has the physiology to bring it back.”
Women’s 200 Free
Colbert led throughout, reaching halfway in 56.59 with Abbie Wood second, 0.35 adrift. Colbert however pulled away on the third 50 and came home in 1:55.76 to go within 0.22 of the British record of 1:55.54 set by Joanne Jackson in the semis of the 2009 World Championships in Rome. It was well within the QT of 1:56.65. Leah Schlosshan of Manchester Performance Centre posted a 1:57.80 PB for second with Wood third in 1:57.98 and Lucy Hope fourth in 1:59.24. Freya Anderson – the 2022 European individual silver medallist and multiple relay champion – was absent from the final after finishing ninth in prelims.
“It definitely felt good,” said Colbert. “I think sometimes the best races feel kind of comfortable. I don’t know any of my splits but it was obviously really positive because I’ve come out with a PB and hopefully there’s more to come. I have got the British record at the back of my mind. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite there tonight but plenty more races to come and hopefully it’s an event I’m going to be pursuing individually in Singapore so hopefully the British record may come then.”
Colbert, who is coached by Dave Hemmings at Loughborough Performance Centre, moved from fourth to second in the British rankings, leapfrogging Anderson (PB 1:55.85) and Siobhan O’Connor who went 1:55.82 for silver behind Emma McKeon at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Jackson’s supersuited record was set on 26 July 2009 when Colbert was five. “It’s been there for a very long time and my coach Dave said to me it’s such a historic record,” she added. “It was done in a supersuit by Jo Jackson so it’s definitely going to be a very challenging one to get and that’s someone I look up to a lot. I’ve got my eye on it – it’s coming hopefully, fingers crossed.”
