Scott's 1:56.44 In London 200IM Shows No Hunger Lost In Post-Paris, Three-Month Break
GB Champs: Scott is pre-selected for Singapore World Championships from July 27-August 3 but had he needed to qualify he would have done so: the cut, 1:57.18; Ollie Morgan and Eva Okaro at the sprint double; Shanahan and McGill through too
There was never any doubt about who would win the men's 200m medley on day 4 at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in London. The question was how fast Duncan Scott would be. Answer: very fast for a man who took a three-month break at the back end of 2024 - 1:56.44.
The signs of renewed fitness and verve were all there, of course, when Scott clocked a 1:54.8 for the national 200m butterfly title two days ago, when we noted Scott's take on 'why the 200 'fly' when he spoke to SOS on the eve of nationals:
Craig Lord
It took 'everybody' by surprise, except swimmer, coach Ben Higson, Britain head coach Steven Tigg and just about everybody who knows the athlete called Duncan Scott, two-time Olympic 4x200 free champion and 200m free and medley silver medallist.
By the time LA2028 comes round, he'll be 30 but today he looked more spring chicken, and that in the nicest possible definition of chicken (the kind a fox wouldn't want to mess with) as the University of Stirling ace sped through splits of 24.96, 53.93, 1:28.03 and then stopped the clock in 1:56.44.
Scott is pre-selected for Singapore World Championships from July 27-August 3 but had he needed to qualify he would have done so: the cut, 1:57.18.
Not quite where he was on the biggest of occasions, neither the 1:55.28 nor his 1:55.31 clockings that, respectively, delivered Tokyo2020ne and Paris 2024 Olympic silvers. But not all that far away, either: his equal eighth career best represents a speed that the vast majority of swimmers in the world can only envy.
It was a perfect match of the time clocked by Tom Dean for silver behind Scott at GB nationals a year ago, when the champion's time was 1:55.91, 1:56.44 would have pipped Dean, the Olympic 200m free and 4x200m free champion at Tokyo2020 and 4x200-m gold medallist once more in Paris, for 5th place in the 200 medley final at Paris 2024.
In other words, the break was not only worth it but has left Britain's most versatile swimmer just about no worse off on the clock.
Today, he left the rest trailing, the silver to Matthew Ward, coached by Dave McNulty and team at Bath Performance Centre, in 1:59.13, the bronze to Evan Jones, coached by Ryan Livingstone and team at the Manchester PC, in 1:59.21. Charlie Hutchison, of Loughborough, completed the sub-2-minute club in 1:59.44.
Scott paid plaudits to his fellow finalists for putting pressure on him from the get go, though they surely saw it the other way round as they tried to stick with the man to beat knowing they would not be able to and having that confirmed with every passing stroke:
Said Scott:
"It was really tough and I felt it quite a bit, credit to those boys they really take it out. In the IM, you really have to utilise your strengths as much as you can and get the most out of your weaknesses as well. They send it out the way they do and it puts me under a lot of pressure through the first part of the race and then I just really need to get to work."
Singapore Tickets For Shanahan & McGill
In the women's 200m backstroke, Scott's Stirling teammates Katie Shanahan and Holly McGill battled to a Stirling 1-2 punch in 2:07.91 and 2:08.20, leaving Olympian Honey Osrin, Loughborough, trailing in 2:10.60.
Shanahan was 0.46sec shy of her career best from Fukuoka 2023 World Championships, while McGill celebrated a personal best by 0.9sec - and both were inside the Singapore cut of 2:08.68.
All podium placers were close to the last turn, before the race turned:
30.47; 1:02.49; 1:35.19; 2:07.91 Shanahan
30.59; 1:02.97; 1:35.32; 2:08.20 McGill
29.93; 1:02.31; 1:35.71; 2:10.60 Osrin
Said Shanahan:
"I knew coming into tonight it was going to be a really tough race with the girls, there’s a lot of depth in that race so to get my hand on the wall first was really nice and to get the qualifying time is a relief as well. I think after doing that event at almost every international meet it does help with racing the likes of the Australian girls, it’s good to have that experience under my belt and know how to race it."
Champions on Day 4
For all Paralympic events, see Josh Murray's report at Aquatics GB:
British Swimmingr
Images courtesy of Aquatics GB
Morgan & Okaro At The Double In Dashing Style
A day after a lightening 52.12 British record in the 100m backstroke, Oliver Morgan, coached by Gary Humpage at Birmingham University, struck twice, his 24.43 personal best in the 50m leaving him well clear of Jonathon Marshall, Carnegie, 24.88. The bronze went to Bath PC's Cameron Brooker in 25.02.
Morgan has some to go before the British record is in reach: at 24.04, it was set by Liam Tancock for gold at the 2009 World Championships at the height of the shiny suits saga. Now that all the stroke dash events are in the Olympics, from 2028, motivation to move it takes on new meaning and the longevity of Tancock's shiny epic, which stood as the World record for nine years until 2018, may well be tested on the way to Los Angeles.
In the other stroke dash event of the day, the women 's 50m butterfly, Eva Okaro, coached by Jamie Main at Repton, rose from 5th to 3rd on the British all-time rankings with a career high of 26.19 a day after a debut 24.5 for the 50m free crown and ticket to Singapore.
Okaro's 'fly best had been 26.47, from the Settecolli in Rome in June last year. The podium was completed by Laura Stephens, Loughborough, 26.62, and Ciara Schlosshan, Edinburgh University, 26.68.
In other finals...
There was no Singapore cut for the men's solo 100m butterfly, but with his 51.80 (23.98) victory, Ed Mildred, coached by Livingstone at the Manchester PC, placed himself on the 4x100m medley team. He said:
"It's my first long-course World Championships, so of course I'm very happy. I was a successful junior swimmer and won a lot at British age-group championships, European Juniors, but breaking into that senior field is quite tough and is something that I have struggled with. I'm not going to lie, it's taken a lot of mental resilience and swings of emotions to get there, but I'm happy to perform when it counts."
Jack Brown, 17 and racing for Plymouth Leander, was just 0.07sec away, with Jacob Peters, of the Bath PC, only 0.04sec further adrift in a blanket finish.
There was no ticket in the 400m free for women, either, Megan Barnes, Mount Kelly taking the title in 4:12.66, ahead of Amelie Blocksidge, City of Salford, 4:12.78, the bronze to Hollie Wilson, City of Leeds, in 4:13.60.
No disrespect to any involved but Britain's distance program is struggling - and in some events in the nation that boasted Rebecca Cooke, Rebecca Adlington and Jazz Carlin in the past two decades, appears to have fallen off a relative cliff.
