Oliver Morgan, coached by Gary Humpage at Birmingham University, dominated the 100m backstroke on the third day at Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in London, his 52.12 (25.24) shattering the British record of 52.70 he clocked at Olympic trials a year ago.

If Adam Peaty is motivated by the Olympic introduction of the 50m breaststroke, then 21-year-old Morgan's elevation from 22nd to 13th on the all-time global rankings will surely have caught the eye of the 100m breaststroke world record holder and his ambitions to add another 4x100m medley Olympic medal to his pantheon after silvers in 2016 and 202One.

Give it a few more months, a year, a shove in the right direction, with Peaty in the 57sec zone once more, perhaps, and Morgan's backstroke speed may well be useful to deciding on a new line-up for the mixed medley relay, Britain having taken inaugural gold in the new event in Tokyo four years ago.

Morgan's blast, just 0.03sec from a place in the all-time top 10, was well inside the 53.20 Singapore cut, which was an agonising 0.01sec ahead of Jonathon Marshall, Carnegie and based in the U.S., as he claimed silver in 53.21 (25.69).

Morgan's second-length fitness told a tale of what Marshall will need to work on beyond a focus on 25-yards swimming that is the main theatre of college racing in the States. The bronze went to Matthew Ward, of Bath Performance Centre, in 53.52.

Said Morgan:

"We knew there'd be something quick in there, everything in training was pointing towards going that way. I've had a pretty busy year with university and just trying to get that done, so we sat straight after the Games and spoke out the next four years which I guess I haven't ever done before. One, that was a weird conversation to have, and two, we thought my swimming this year wouldn't be that fast with putting uni first - so to be going 52.1 [is great], and the training I've been doing has just been backing that up. I'm loving it every day, getting better and better, each week in training has been doing something phenomenal so I've been loving it."

Evans Breaks Cover Over 200m

There was also fine news for Britain in the women's 200m breaststroke: Angharad Evans sped from 11th fastest Brit to 3rd all-time with a dominant 2:21.86 victory that punched a ticket to World Championships in Singapore in late July.

A career high by almost 4sec in year, the time also swept the Olympic 100m finalist from podium potential there and back to the cusp of that over four lengths.

The warning came in February at BUCS, with a 2:22.64:

Coached by Ben Higson and team at the from the University of Stirling, Evans, 22 this year, built a 1sec lead by half-way, extended that closer to 2sec by the last turn and put another half a second on her lead on the homecoming lap. Closest to her was Kara Hanlon, of Edinburgh Uni, on 2:24.07. The bronze went to Loughborough's Sienna Robinson in 2:29.14.

Evans' Splits:

• 32.32 1:07.95 1:44.22 2:21.86

Only Molly Renshaw, retired British record holder on 2:20.89 at 2021 Olympic trials, and Abbie Wood, 400IM champion yesterday and on 2:21.69 in the same race with training partner Renshaw three years and two days ago, are now faster than Evans on the all-time Brit rankings.

What can Evans do in the 100 in London? Not long to wait.

Okaro Makes Sub-24.5 debut

The good news kept coming. In 24.48, Eva Okaro, of Repton, sprinted inside Singapore cut of 24.61, her debut sub-24.5 lifting her from 6th to 3rd on the all-time Brit ranking. On the eve of nationals this week, Okaro's best was a 24.91, clocked at the Setecolli International in Rome last June. She improved on that with a 24.90 in heats this morning.

Then came the leap below 24.5 for the crown for the sprinter coached by Jaimie Maine - and the team at Repton. A measure of how fast the teenager is getting: fastest of those she leap-frogged over on that best-ever list is Scottish Commonwealth champion and Olympic finalist Alison Sheppard, whose 24.68 from 23 years ago is now all-time No3. Said Eva:

"I wasn't expecting to go that fast but that was amazing! The last year gave me a lot of experience, it has helped me get my mind in the right headspace in the competition arena and dealing with the crowd and stuff like that - so I think it's helped me in a sense just to calm me down and keep my nerves before a race and that's really beneficial for me."

Top of the all-time pile on the best-of-Brit clock is Fran Halsall, with her sensational 23.96 Commonwealth-title blast at Glasgow 2014 (a reminder of Chelsea Warr's Smart Track days in Britain on the day the Australian joins the board of her nation's swim federation - see Vortex), while Ana Hopkin's 24.34 from semis at 2019 World titles is directly relevant to Okaro's story.

Hopkin was coached to Olympic mixed medley gold and Olympic sprint solo final by Mel Marshall, Peaty's mentor. It was in Repton's pool that Peaty cut his teeth and where he returned to get back into shape away from the lights as he worked his way back from mental and physical burnout.

Marshall included Okaro in her Britain relay camps and a few other sessions at Loughborough in her even younger years. And it was Marshall who recommended she base herself at Repton, where academics and sport hold hands.

Here's an interview with Eva and her mother for Black History month in 2022:

Black history in the making: Eva Okaro

As an aspiring swimmer, Eva Okaro did not need a role model to make her fall in love with the sport. “Safety and fun — that’s where it all began for me,” Okaro

The TimesCraig Lord

In 2024, we were able to report that Eva was soon to become the first black woman to race for Great Britain in the pool at the Olympics, Paris 2024 her debut.

Repton's Other Sprint Hope: Mills 0.09 adrift Richards in 100 Free Final

Repton had more to celebrate as the session came to a close with the men's 100m freestyle.

Two-times Olympic 4x200m free champion and 200m freestyle silver medalist 0.04sec from gold in Paris last summer, Matt Richards, now at Manchester Performance centre, took the 100m crown in London today in 47.92 (22.86). Preselected for Singapore, Richard achieved his goal: win, under 48 would be fine. His best is the British record, at 47.45 from Fukuoka 2023 World titles.

And look how close it was: Repton's Jacob Mills, born in 2007, when Michael Phelps was laying down one of, if not the greatest World-Championships campaigns in swimming history and Peaty was yet to leave primary school, clocked 48.03, off a 23.16. That left mills 0.03 inside the Singapore solo cut and all but a cert for the 4x1 relay gathering pace.

Mills had a 49.61 best heading into 2025. In heats, he clocked 48.11. Games on for a 17-year-old who showed in the final he can not only sprint with the best but do it under pressure. There can be no better news for Britain 4x100 prospects than a wave building with hunger to make a quartet capable of doing damage on the biggest of occasions. The long history of GB's 4x200m is a happy model.

The bronze went to 2020ne 200m and 4x200m free Olympic champion Bath PC's Tom Dean, in 48.40 (23.43), while Jacob Whittle, Bath Uni, was just 0.02sec further adrift (23.46, 48.45), two others within 0.05sec of him: Alexander Painter, Millfield, 48.47 (22.96) and Olympic member of TeamGB's 4x100m free relay in Paris, Alexander Cohoon, Loughborough PC, on 48.50 (23.03).

Worth noting that Richards and Dean, as well as James Guy and Duncan Scott, are pre-selected for Singapore, so need for the speed they'll be aiming for in the summer, even though racing to win is always the aim.

Reflecting on the race, double Olympic champion and 2023 double World champion Richards said:

"That was really, really good, I'm really happy with that. It's always tough in these British finals, especially that 100m Freestyle, it's the first one of the week - it's always such a cagey race, you never really know who's going what, how anyone is going to swim it, so it's almost a more challenging race to tactically get right than it is on a world level, because you know these guys so well that you almost expect things from them - and then if you don't see it, you overthink during the race. So I'm really pleased with that, to get another 47s under the belt, I can't complain with that at all - that's booked the 100m in Singapore, it'll be really good."

And ... more on Scott, 200 'fly breaker yesterday, soon...

• RESULTS IN FULL

There was one other final - a dash backstroke battle, for which there is no selection policy ... but that's about to change...