2023 WEST MIDLANDS SUMMER CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Weekend 1: 29th and 30th April, 1st May; Weekend 2: 7th and 8th May
- The Alan Higgs Centre, Coventry
- LCM (50m)
- Results
Oliver Morgan of Great Britain broke through in a big way this past April while competing at the 2023 British Swimming Championships, reaping gold across the 50m, 100m and 200m back events.
He became the first man to complete a backstroke sweep in over a decade at the meet, earning a spot on the British roster for this summer’s World Championships as a result of his performances.
However, the 19-year-old recently lowered his best-ever 100m backstroke time, beating what it took the University of Birmingham budding star to make it into that Sheffield final.
Morgan raced on his squad’s men’s 4x100m medley relay at the 2023 West Midlands Summer Championships which just completed last night in Coventry, England.
Leading off in backstroke, Morgan registered a time of 53.71, a mark which shaved .06 off his best-ever 53.77 produced in the heats at the British Swimming Championships. Morgan ultimately still took the title there at Ponds Forge, hitting a final result of 53.92. That gave him the national title ahead of the likes of Olympic medalist Luke Greenbank.
Morgan opened his 53.77 and his more recent 53.71 swims in identical front halves of 25.84, but his April outing closed in 27.93 while his Midlands last 50m checked in at 27.87.
Even with shaving off just .06, Morgan frog-hops over Loughborough’s Joe Litchfield to now rank as the 4th fastest British 100m backstroke of all time.
All-Time British Men’s LCM 100 Backstroke Performers
- Liam Tancock – 52.73, 2009
- Christopher Walker-Hebborn – 52.88, 2015
- Luke Greenbank – 53.34, 2021
- Oliver Morgan – 53.71, 2023
- Joe Litchfield – 53.75, 2021
Morgan now ranks 19th in the world on the season with Fukuoka on the horizon.
Backstroke was the one sub-par leg of the team GBR 400MdR in Tokyo. If they get their backstroke situation sorted out, Peaty comes back, and Guy and Scott are back to form, this could be a dangerous relay. It could be a tremendous battle among the top 3 teams: GBR, USA, ITA.
China also.
That’s a lot of ifs, I wouldn’t bet on them
Even if Peaty does return (not even sure how close to his best he will be also), GB no longer has the 2 second dominace they had before on this leg. Look at Italy with Martinenghi and China now with Qin putting in sub 58.
Oli Morgan and Jacob Peters’ breakthrough makes the 4x100M even more interesting, and the 4×1 mixed more interesting still.
Encouraging
🥇📈🎉🏊🏼👍🏼💪🏼🇬🇧💂🏻♀️💂🏼💂🏻♂️