The Vortex - March 2026: Evans Gathers Momentum For A Scottish Summer of Plenty
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Angharad Evans fired another in-prep warning shot to wrap up the Edinburgh International, her 2:22.31 win in the 200m breaststroke marking the second time at the meet that she rattled her career-high pace.
On Friday in the 100m she was just 0.09 shy of her British 100m record in 1:05.46 for an early lead in the 2026 World ranks.
Britain all-time No3, Evans, coached by Ben Higson at the University of Stirling performance centre, has a best 200m of 2:21.86 from her tapered win at British nationals almost a year ago. Ahead of her on the domestic clock are retired Mollie Renshaw, 2:20.89, and Abbie Wood, 0.17sec faster than Evans' best back in 2021.
Today, Wood came closest to Evans, on 2:23.76, Imogen Myles third in a distant 2:28.09 as the Brit top two squared up on the way to a season likely to see them compete as teammates for Britain in European waters in Paris and as rivals for Scotland and England at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Evans was preselected to ace for Scotland in Glasgow last month (see repeat of February's news at foot of this report).
Peaty Back On Top In Domestic Waters
The last seen at the Royal Commonwealth Pool witnessed Adam Peaty's return to a place he's more familiar with: on top, his 27.33sec in the 50m breaststroke good for the win over the next wavers he serves as a magnet for.
The twice Olympic 100m champion and eight-times world champion on breaststroke finished fourth in the there-and-back that marked his return to domestic racing after a lengthy post-Paris-Olympics break. All op four finished within 0.5sec of each other on 1:00-plus, Filip Nowacki at the helm.
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In the dash, Peaty swapped places with Nowacki, who finished fourth, victory a close call, by 0.08 ahead of Max Morgan's 27.41=, with Archie Goodburn on 27.45, and the 100 winner on 27.62.
We're a month shy of two years since Peaty last won a race in domestic waters: Olympic trials in April 2024, when he clocked a heartening 57.94 in the 100m on the way to Paris, where not a single protagonist broke 59sec the gold to Italy' Nicolo Martinenghi 0.02sec ahead of Peaty. The circumstances:
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That tiny margin of what would have been an historic third Olympic crown in the 100m is a part of the fuel that kept Peaty in the game on the way to Los Angeles and another incentive in the tank: the introduction of the 50m events on the other three strokes 40 years after freestyle got its Olympic dash at Seoul 1988.
Peaty emerged from his win to note the the growing force of Nowacki and the prospect of ejoining battle with the man whose reign he ended back in 2014-2015, South Africa's 2012 Olympic 100m champion, and now on the comeback trail, Cameron van der Burgh:
“Filip’s wearing an AP Race hat [Nowacki is an ambassador] and obviously we can spot good talent coming through. But I look past my whole career now, and it’s going to be incredible to race Cameron again, hopefully in the 50s for the Commies.”
A return to the Commonwealth 100 is far from locked in. Indeed, it may not happen:
“I don’t think I’ll be doing 100, but we’ll see. But again, that’s what makes sports great, and I think it’s one of the best decisions for the 50s to be back in, because the older athletes continue to go and continue to race.”
In other action in Edinburgh, Matt Richards made it a freestyle treble (50,100, 200) in the 100m free with a 48.66 victory ahead of Jacob Mills (48.95) and Andreas Vazaios (49.11). In the 400m, Tyler Melbourne-Smith and James Guy limbered upon for bigger moments with tight-tussle efforts of 3:49.02 and 3:49.21 respectively.
Other winners included:
Luke Greenbank, on 1:58.28 in the 200m backstroke
Madison Kryger, Canada, on 2:10.00 in the 200m backstroke
Edward Mildred, on 51.73 in the 100 'fly
Amelie Blocksidge, Salford, on 16:24.80 in the 1500m freestyle
Tamara Potocka, on 26.45 in the 50m butterfly
Theodora Taylor, on 54.90 in the 100m free
Recap
Angharad Evans and Ben Higson Added to Team Scotland for Glasgow 2026
February 2026 - Angharad Evans, Paris 2024 Olympian and World Championship medallist for Britain, is the second swimmer selected to Team Scotland for a home Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
She and her coach Ben Higson join University of Stirling teammate Duncan Scott, the first Scotland pick for the showcase event, which will start on Friday 24 July and run for six days.
Scottish Swimming issued the following on the Games news last month:
2024 was a huge breakthrough year for Angharad – becoming British Champion and British Record holder in the 100m Breaststroke and placing 6th at her debut Olympic Games in Paris.
Later in the year Angharad won silver as part of the Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay at the World Short Course Championships, swimming the breaststroke leg, alongside Abbie Wood, Eva Okaro and Freya Anderson.
2025 brought more success, lowering her British 100m Breaststroke Record to 1:05.37 at the Aquatics GB Championships in London, the only British woman to have set a time under 66 seconds in the event.
She just missed a medal, placing 4th in the 200m Breaststroke at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships in Singapore and in December 2025 won her first individual international medal with 200m Breaststroke silver at the European Aquatics Short Course Championships. She will chase a first Commonwealth Games medal in Glasgow:
“To be the first female on the team is a really special moment for me. It gives me a lot more confidence in my abilities, and makes me want to make Scotland proud at the Commonwealth Games."
Also heading to Glasgow 2026 will be University of Stirling Head Coach, Ben Higson, named today as Team Scotland’s Head Coach for swimming. Ben made his Team Scotland coaching debut at Glasgow 2014 on the back of strong performances from many of his University of Stirling athletes.
He then coached as part of the Team GB set up at Rio 2016, where many of his athletes were competing, including Duncan Scott. Following coaching stints with Ireland for Tokyo 2020 and Australia at Paris 2024, Ben returned to Scotland as Head Coach of the University of Stirling’s High Performance Swimming Programme.
Speaking of his return to Team Scotland, Ben said: “It’s an absolute honour and a privilege to be part of Team Scotland again. Glasgow 2014 was my first senior international coaching experience, and I can’t wait to get back and experience that again!”
Angharad’s selection comes on the back of meeting the Phase 1 selection requirements set out in the selection policy and following nomination from Scottish Swimming and subsequent ratification by Commonwealth Games Scotland.
Elinor Middlemiss MBE, Team Scotland Chef de Mission, said:
“We’re delighted to welcome Angharad to Team Scotland for Glasgow 2026. She has enjoyed an outstanding breakthrough period on the international stage and has since gone on to underline her status as one of the world’s leading breaststrokers.
“Having athletes like Angharad and Duncan confirmed at this early stage, alongside those announced across other sports, shows the strength and depth that’s starting to build across Team Scotland and I’m looking forward to watching them perform in front of a home crowd this summer.”
Athletes from across all 10 sports and six para-sports featured at Glasgow 2026 will be selected in the coming months as Team Scotland prepares for an exciting home Commonwealth Games.
Grousset Grabs Another Win Over Ponti As Giant Open Looms On Paris Horizon
The Lausanne Cup came to a close this evening with another display of speed from French sprint ace Maxime Grousset in a 100 'fly tussle with the host nation's Noè Ponti that ended 51.15 to 51.47 in favour of the visitor.
There was also 47.90 in the 100m free from Arizona State's Patrick Sammon, racing for the New York Athletic Club, his winning time within half a second of his career high 47.47 from last year, while Mary Sophie Harvey, of Canada, pipped French opponent Marie Wattel 58.21 to 58.26 in the 100 'fly, before Wattel was back in the fray in the curtain-closing 100 free finals for her own win in 54.30.
Grousset, racing for the Paris Performance centre and his club Clichy 92, was out in 23.64, home in 27.51, Ponti shadowing him throughout on 23.91 and 27.56, third place to Clement Sechi in 52.25.
Harvey, a series of wins stretching from 'fly to middle-distance free and medley in the bag, trailed Wattel to half-way 27.54 adrift 27.07, before a 30.67 home comer swept her past the Frenchwoman and her 31.19. Turin's Anita Gastaldi took third in 58.94.
In the 100 free final, Wattel shadowed Belgium's Florine Gaspard 26.05 adrift 25.77 at the turn before a 28.12 got the better of the half-way pace-setter and her 28.63 to home. Sofia Asted took third in 54.99.
Sammon, 22, made a big breakthrough last year when he raced inside 48 for the first time. Now he's doing it in March on a train-and-race venture in Switzerland, his win coming off a speedy 22.80 at the turn, and a 25.10 back to block ahead of fellow American and training partner at Arizona State Grant House, on 48.49 (23.65, 24.84). Third place went to Balint Ashton, of Basel, in 49.61.
The women's 200m breaststroke witnessed a solid 2:23.90 and dominant win from Lisa Angliolini, racing for Virtus Buonconvento ssd. Three 2:27s followed, from fellow Italian and 100m winner Anna Pirovino, East Swiss Team member Kay-Lyn Loehr and multi-venter Harvey.
Italian World champion Thomas Ceccon clocked 24.95 at the helm of the 50m back, 0.03sec ahead of Belgium's Noah Verreth, with Israel's Tomer Shuster just 0.02sec away, his teammate Mihael Leytrovskiy next home in 25.37.
Other winners included Pauline Mahieu (FRA), on 27.90 in the 50m backstroke, and Tommaso Griffante (ITA), on 15:14.30 in the 1500m free.
Giant Open in Paris
Meanwhile, Grousset, Wattel, Mahieu and many other French national teamsters, as well as Harvey and others who competed in Lausanne over the past three days will now head to the Giant Open in Paris next weekend for he meet on March 20-22.
They'll be going in battle by Brits Duncan Scott, Tom Dean, Adam Peaty and others warming up at the Edinburgh International this weekend, Britain teammate Freya Anderson, Dutch ace Marritt Steenbergen and a cast of other swim stars, while a Greek team will include Apostolos Christou.
Also in the March Vortex:
- Freya Colbert Takes British 200 Free Record Below 1:55 In Edinburgh
- Filip Nowacki At The Double; Peaty Fourth In First Race Since Paris 2024 Silver
- Maxime Grousset Growls - 22.78 50 'fly in Lausanne
- Angharad Evans Scares Her Own British Record At Edinburgh International
- Florine Gaspard & Mary-Sophie Harvey At The Double In Lausanne
- Target Practice For A Summer Of Divided Speed
- Speed Unending From McKeown As Perkins Hauls Four Golds at the NSW Championships in Sydney
- Tuning Up In Westmont: Gretchen Walsh, Summer McIntosh, Katie Ledecky, Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, Sam Short, Léon Marchand, Carson Foster, Chris Guiliano were among those on the crest of the big-wave surfers starting their steady tune-up a the Swim Pro Series - Westmont
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