British Trials, Day 3 Prelims: Matt Richards Heads 100 Free In 48.01 With Dean, Scott, Whittle & Guy Through; Burras Locked Out In 12th
Matt Richards booked lane four for the 100 free final with the quality of the two-length event in Great Britain on show in the prelims at the Aquatics Centre.
The 2023 world 200 free champion will be joined in the final by the likes of Tom Dean, Jacob Whittle, Duncan Scott and James Guy.
Max Litchfield, fourth in the 400IM in Rio and Tokyo, is fastest into the final.
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Men’s 1500m Freestyle
The session got under way with three heats of the 1500 headed by Kourosh Khodakhah in 15:52.51.
Cameron Travis (15:55.55), Jack Muncey (15:56.19) and Sean McCann (15:58.87) were the other swimmers inside 16mins.
Dan Jervis will be favourite for the title on Thursday evening as he seeks to reach his second Olympics, three years after his debut in Tokyo.
Men’s 400IM
Litchfield is competing in his first national championships since the Olympic selection trials in 2021, also held at the Aquatics Centre.
The 29-year-old, who won silver at the 2024 worlds in Doha, was the fastest qualifier by 6.78secs in 4:15.07 ahead of Charlie Hutchison (4:21.85) with George Smith and Edward Whittles next through in 4:22.99 and 4:23.78 respectively.
Litchfield told Swimming World:
“Good for a 4IM heat. It’s nice to get that first one out of the way, isn’t it? You have to wait two days, you just want to get going, don’t you?
“So yeah, pretty good. I felt like I was pretty comfortable throughout so see what we’ve got tonight.”
Litchfield, coached by Dave Hemmings at Loughborough, is accustomed to going straight from heats to final whereas most events have had to navigate the lack of semifinals.
He’ll return to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the evening to attempt to book a place at his third Olympics, having finished fourth at the last two Games.
He said:
“It’s the same as any other meet, isn’t it? There’s no difference.
“I’ve been in this situation many a time here or at international meet, whatever it is.
“It’s the same thing, I’ve got to try and get a time.
“I’m not going to think about the time, I’m just going to race it, have fun and enjoy myself and see what we get.
“But I’ve obviously already done the time in Doha and been 4:13 a couple of times in season so we are in good shape and just got to do it tonight.”
Also through: David Annis (4:24.53), Tony Joe Trett Oliver (4:25.84), William Ryley (4:26.67) and Pierce Greening (4:27.06).
Men’s 100m Freestyle
Quality ran throughout the heats with Richards lining up in the final heat alongside Jacob Whittle having watched Dean, Alexander Cohoon and Scott go mid-48.
The British record-holder split 23.30/24.71 to post the fastest time of 48.01 followed by David Cumberlidge (48.16), Cohoon (48.44) and Dean and Whittle who both clocked 48.47.
Also through were Scott (48.48), Alexander Painter (48.66) with James Guy claiming the eighth and final spot in a PB of 48.68.
Jack McMillan was ninth in 48.75 and there was also no place for Lewis Burras whose time of 49.02 placed him 12th.
Richards was surprised by the speed of the field and told Swimming World:
“Everyone in Britain knows we’ve got something really special in that 4×100 relay now so everyone wants to be a part of it.
“It’s just like that 4×2 over the last few years, it’s building and building.
“I think it’s going to be really exciting tonight. When we saw that first seeded heat – what? four guys going 48 in that? – well, that sets the pace for the morning.
“Everyone has got to be quick, you can’t afford to mess this up.
“It only counts if you are doing the A final tonight, even just getting into the A was going to be hard today so job done for the morning, get ready to go even faster tonight.”
A question to all swimmers in front of a mic. How exactly do you ‘have fun’ (eg ML) in an event? Does that mean you don’t try hard enough or laugh throughout or what? Please stop talking nonsense!