2019 PLYMOUTH LEANDER NATIONAL QUALIFIER
- Saturday, May 25th – Monday, May 27th
- Life Centre, Plymouth, England
- LCM
- Entry List
- Results – Meet Mobile: Plymouth Leander National Qualifier May 2019
The Plymouth Leander club in England is in the midst of hosting its 2019 National Qualifier at its home Life Centre pool. Emerging age groupers stemming from cubs such as The Royal Wolverhampton School, Crewe Flyers Swim Club, Dartmoor Darts Aquatic, City of Derby and more convened to clock times quick enough to qualify for this year’s British Summer Championships taking place in July.
RWS standout and British Age Record holder Matt Richards made his mark on the meet, taking the 100m fly, 50m free and 100m free gold medals in the men’s 16+ age group. Richards is one of the teens who rocked multiple eye-catching times at this year’s British Championships, including a sub-1:50 200m free, sub-23 second 50m free and sub-50 second 100m free.
Here in Plymouth, Richards’ winning time in the 100m fly was 55.73, a mark which stands as the teen’s 4th fastest time of his career. The 16-year-old holds a PB in that event of 54.51 from the 2018 British Championships and registered a time of 57.97 this year at the FFN Golden Tour Marseille. As such, his performance at this Plymouth Leander National Qualifier checks-in has Richards’ season-best.
Richards’ 50m free time here was 23.72, his 6th quickest time ever. Although his mark was well-off his lifetime best of 22.98 earned at this year’s British Championships, it was enough to take gold here at this National Qualifier meet.
Finally the RWS athlete won the 100m free in a mark of 51.08, another personal top 5 performance. This event was Richards’ most impressive at this year’s British Championships, with the teen clocking a time of 49.98 to produce a new British Age Record.
Richards was recently selected for the 2019 European Junior Championships.