Freya Anderson Strikes Gold Twice In Manchester

2018 MANCHESTER INT’L SWIM MEET

• Saturday, October 20th & Sunday, October 21st
• Manchester Aquatics Center
• SCM
• Meet Site
• Entry List
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Live Results
• Live Stream

This year’s Manchester International Swim Meet got underway with notable British athletes Freya Anderson, Stephen Milne and Emily Large taking to the Manchester Aquatics Center pool. Japan’s multiple national record holder and 2018 Asian Games MVP Rikako Ikee is set to make her appearance tomorrow on day 2, entered to race the 100m fly and 50m backstroke events.

17-year-old Anderson made her mark early here in Manchester, winning the women’s 400m freestyle by almost 7 seconds. The multiple Commonwealth Games medalist touched in 4:07.76 ahead of runner-up Charlotte Atkinson of Loughborough, who earned silver in 4:14.69.

Anderson also reaped gold in the 100m free sprint, representing the only racer to dip under the 55-second thresholdd. Splitting 26.31/27.06, the Ellesmere Titan nabbed a winning effort of 53.37, the 2nd best SCM time of her young career. Her outing sits just outside the top 10 times in the world this SCM season.

Another multiple event winner on the evening was Loughborough’s Beth Aitchison, as the 21-year-old topped the podium in both the 200m IM and 50m breast. In the former, Aitchison produced a time of 2:13.93 for the win, while in the latter, she touched in 31.13 to beat the field.

Of note, both Katie Matts and Anderson raced in the 200m IM prelims with Matts nabbing the top seed in 2:12.74 and Anderson just behind in 2:14.22. Both women wound up dropping the final for their other events tonight, however.

For Matts, that meant she had full energy for the 200m breast, which the 20-year-old Stockport Metro swimmer won in 2:22.66. With splits of 1:08.27/1:14.39, Matts was just over a second off of her SCM personal best of 2:21.28 from 2016, but was ahead of the 2:23.94 she produced this same time last year.

Large was a clear winner in her pet 200m fly event, taking the met title in a time of 2:09.25. She earlier earned runner-up status behind Aitchison in the 200m IM, clocking 2:15.00.

Olympian Milne proved fastest in the men’s 200m free, as the Perth City athlete nabbed gold in 1:46.05. That was just .04 behind the 1:46.01 he produced at this same time in 2017. Behind him was 23-year-old Sheffield swimmer Jay Lelliott in a time of 1:47.37.

Lelliott went on to take the men’s 18+ 200m backstroke title in 1:55.61, a mark more than 3 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

2018 European Championships swimmer Nic Pyle made his presence known in the 17 and under age group races, taking the 50m back in 24.90 and then the 200m back in 2:00.05. Both of those times would have earned bronze in the men’s 18+ category of the respective races.

Additional Highlights:

• 24-year-old Sam Horrocks of Manchester won the men’s 100m fly in 52.41.
• The men’s 400m IM saw Sheffield’s Richard Nagy come out on top in a time of 4:12.72.
• Breaststroke national record holder Imogen Clark earned the winning time in the 50m fly race, stopping the clock at 26.66. Anderson was a no-show for this final.
• Loughborough’s Tom Fannon took the men’s 50m free in 22.46.
• The men’s 50m back saw Thierry Bollin win in 24.39.
• Charlotte Evans was the women’s 100m back winner, clocking 1:00.26.
• Sheffield’s Oliver Crosby took the men’s 100m breast in 1:01.54.