Edinburgh Day 2: Guy Grabs 50 Fly Gold & Wilby Wins 200 Breast

2018 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL SWIM MEET

• Incorporates the 2018 British National Championships
• Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh
• March 1st – 4th
• LCM
• Meet Site
• Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Results

Day 1 Recap

With the key athletes bound for the Commonwealth Games still under heavy training, this year’s British National Championships, which is incorporated into the Edinburgh International Swim Meet, hasn’t been as quick as last year. James Guy, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, James Wilby  and others are using the meet as a tune-up before the big show on the Gold Coast.

200m butterfly victor from last night, Bath’s Guy raced in 2 events this evening, beginning with the 400m freestyle. Chasing Sheffield’s Jay Lelliott, who led wire-to-wire, Guy settled for silver in 3:51.40 for Lelliott’s 3:50.85.

Post-race, Lelliott stated, “It’s nice to hear British Champion, I’ve never been that before! I just wish I could have gone quicker.”

Guy was able to upgrade to gold in the 50m butterfly, churning out a winning time of 24.24 for his 3rd piece of hardware so far. On the night, the 2015 world champion said,  “There was a lot of hard racing there – I’m happy with how it’s gone.”

Another Bath swimmer took on a double tonight, as 23-year-old Olympic silver medalist O’Connor raced the women’s 200m IM and 100m breaststroke both within about a half an hour of one another. In her specialty event, O’Connor notched a solid swim of 2:12.26, while she fell shy of the podium in 4th in the 100m breaststroke with a mark of 1:08.31.

The winner of the breaststroke race was visiting Spaniard Jessica Vall, who nabbed gold in 1:07.21, with Cardiff’s Chloe Tutton next in line in 1:08.02. Irish 18-year-old Mona McSharry also landed on the podium with a mark of 1:08.16 for bronze.

“I’m really pleased with the swims I have done here and delighted to have won with some amazing girls,” veteran O’Connor said post-race.

“It’s been a really good week but now I’m looking forward to going and making my final preparations for the Commonwealth Games.”

Additional Winners on Day 2:

• Germany’s Jan-Philip Glania came out on top of the men’s 100m backstroke field, clocking 54.97 at 30 years of age. The British title went to Christopher Walker-Hebborn who earned a mark of 55.26.
• Lizzie Simmonds was able to hold off Germany’s Lisa Graf in the women’s 200m backstroke race, with the former taking the title in 2:10.26 while Graf touched less than half second later in 2:10.62.
• Commonwealth Games-bound James Wilby was tonight’s 200m breaststroke winner stopping the clock in 2:12.02 ahead of another Commonwealth Games athlete and 2014 champion in this event, Ross Murdoch (2:14.22).
• Spain’s Lidon Munoz charged to the wall first in the women’s 50m free in 25.65, but Edinburgh’s Lucy Hope touched just .04 later for the British title in 25.69.

All quotes courtesy of British Swimming.