Max Litchfield, Oliver Morgan Set Meet Records at Edinburgh Invitational
Two further meet records went down during Saturday evening’s finals session at the Edinburgh Invitational following two record-setting swims in Friday evening’s events. Great Britain’s two leading 400 IMers, both coming off medal-winning performances at last month’s World Championships, continued to impress while a backstroker who could be the future leadoff swimmer on medal-contending medley relays continued to roll.
Coming off a successful return to international racing at the Doha World Championships with a silver in the 400 IM, Max Litchfield again dominated his signature event Saturday in Edinburgh, racing to a time of 4:13.56 to win by more than six seconds ahead of Charlie Hutchinson (4:19.47) and Thomas Jansen (4:22.04). In the process, Litchfield clobbered the meet record of 4:15.44 set by Duncan Scott two years ago.
Oliver Morgan, meanwhile, clinched his second meet record in two days as he dominated the 50 backstroke in 24.95. On Friday, he clocked 53.69 in his 100 back win, and this time, he broke Joe Litchfield’s 2020 meet record of 25.32. Scott Gibson (25.52) and Jamie Ferguson (25.93) were second and third, respectively.
Freya Colbert, the recently-crowned world champion in the 400 IM, dominated her signature races while swimming just six tenths of a second slower than she did in the gold-medal race last month in Doha. Colbert clocked 4:37.72, dominating Katie Shanahan (4:43.99) by six seconds while Ireland’s Ellen Walshe took third (4:44.22).
Abbie Wood also had a strong performance Saturday as she grabbed the 200 freestyle win in 1:58.17, almost a half-second clear of Medi Harris’ time of q:58.63. Lucy Hope came in third in 1:59.63, with no one else in the field breaking 2:00.
Ireland’s Danielle Hill took out the women’s 50 backstroke in 27.91, ahead of Kathleen Dawson (28.25) and Niamh Ward (29.07). Hill was just off the meet record of 27.79 that Canada’s Kylie Masse set last year. The women’s 100 fly went to Tessa Giele by four tenths over Walshe, 58.42 to 58.82, with Ciara Schlosshan third (59.16) while Imogen Clark swam a time of 30.74 in the 50 breast, beating Kara Hanlon (30.95) and Angharad Evans (31.03). Evans previously posted a stunning 1:06.25 to win the 100 breast Friday.
Commonwealth Games gold medalist James Wilby went 1:00.20 for a comfortable win in the men’s 100 breaststroke. Bram Zwetsloot took second in 1:01.64 while Scott, making a rare breaststroke appearance, grabbed third in 1:01.82. Tom Beeley won the men’s 200 fly in 2:00.93, well clear of Finn Mc Geever (2:03.49) and Tiago Gomes (2:03.74). The Netherlands’ Jesse Puts clocked 22.21 for the win in the 50 free, with Ireland’s Tom Fannon edging David Cumberlidge for second, 22.34 to 22.36.