Gibson Now GBR’s 2nd Sub-25 Sec Man In 50 Back; Scott On Form At Scottish Championships

2023 SCOTTISH NATIONAL & OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• June 30th – July 2nd
• Tollcross International Swimming Center
• LCM (50m)
• Results

The 2023 Scottish National & Open Championships concluded earlier this week, with 750 athletes representing 74 clubs taking to the storied Tollcross International Swimming Center.

For some of the high-caliber talent, the competition marked the second consecutive weekend of racing, with the likes of Duncan Scott, Katie Shanahan and Lucy Hope coming off of the 2023 Sette Colli Trophy in Italy.

Right off the bat on the first day, however, it was 23-year-old Scott Gibson who stole the spotlight.

While competing in the heats of the men’s 50m backstroke, Gibson of Edinburgh University, fired off a big-time personal best of 24.97 to claim the top seed. In doing so, Gibson established a new Scottish national record, becoming the first-ever man from his nation to dip under the 25-second barrier in the event.

Then Gibson took the time down even further, getting to the wall in an even quicker 24.83 to top the podium.

Then in the final of the mixed medley relay, Gibson hacked off more time, leading his Edinburgh squad off with a staggering 24.58 lifetime best.

The former Scottish standard stood at the 25.22 Jamie Robertson put on the books at last year’s British Summer Championships.

As for Gibson, his previous career-quickest checked in at the 25.26 he clocked at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. There in Birmingham, Robertson ultimately finished in 6th place with that time.

Gibson’s 24.58 now renders him as Great Britain’s 2nd fastest man in history, sitting only behind national record holder Liam Tancock’s time of 24.04 from 2009.

On his performance, Gibson stated,  “Commies didn’t go to plan for me, I think that time would have got me a medal in Birmingham, so I’m happy to be comfortably under that time now. It’s great company to be in with Liam [Tancock] and it’s a time which stacks up with the rest of the world.

“I’ve trained a lot for the 100, which is obviously the Olympic event, so it’s reassuring going into tomorrow that I have that pace. It’s been a wee bit of a mental block going into the 50, so now hopefully I can harness that belief and see what is possible now.”

Gibson also landed on the podium in the 100m back, stopping the clock in a time of 54.71. That finished just under half a second behind Jonathan Adam who took the top spot in a time of 54.22.

European Championships multi-gold medalist Lucy Hope was also in action on day one, reaping gold in the women’s 100m free. Her time of 55.19 was just off the 54.98 she produced in the B-Final of the event last weekend in Italy.

Hope said of her outing “I’m pleased with the time there. I was working on the second 50 and it was slightly faster than last week so good to move that on and work on the process in the next couple of weeks before worlds. It’s a solid in-season swim so I can’t complain. Last week exceeded my expectations in the 100 and the 200, so we will see how tomorrow goes!

“Off the back of last week there was quite a lot of travel and things so it’s been a case of getting back into training and things – it’s not so much the racing that takes it out of you, it’s the travelling. We had a 17-hour travel day which was quite extensive, but it’s important that we’re still being as safe as possible and try and not get ill with the travel, especially with us being so close to worlds.”

Hope followed up with another victory, earning 200m free gold in a time of 1:58.90. At the Sette Colli in Italy she placed 5th in 1:57.76 last weekend.

Scott took on the 200m IM event, producing the sole time of the field under 2:04. The multi-Olympic medalist hit 1:59.93 to take his first gold in the sole event in which he’ll be focusing for this month’s World Championships.

We reported how Scott has dropped the 100m free due to a scheduling conflict with both the 2IM and the 1free overlapping in Fukuoka.

The University of Stirling ace also raced the 200m free here, logging 1:47.24 as the decisive winner and only man under 1:50. Scott’s time here is a solid result for the versatile athlete who will be part of GBR’s 4x200m free relay once again later this month.

Dunks said of his performance here, “I’m quite happy with the time, I wasn’t expecting to be as quick as that.

“When you go quick it’s great but either way I wouldn’t have been too concerned, I just wanted to go in and commit to a swim.

“At this time of the year things can be a bit ropey, you’ve seen it with some of the other Stirling guys, and that can be really difficult to go through if you haven’t experienced it before. This season some of my in season swims haven’t been good so I was really happy I was able to access that there.

“The whole purpose of in-season swimming is to fine tune some of the smaller details, for example kicks off the walls and building the race and attacking the seconds and third 50. When you taper up those things should then become unconscious. At the same time if you’re swimming fast, you’re swimming fast and that puts you in a good place.”

Katie Shanahan proved once again she is a threat in the IM events, dominating both the 200m and 400m distances at this competition. Shanahan touched in 2:12.16 to win the 200m IM by over 8 seconds while her result of 4:40.75 in the 400m IM beat the field by over 10 seconds.

In fact, her 4:40.75 fell just a second outside of the time she put up in Birmingham for Commonwealth Games bronze last year.

Shanahan said of her swim, “I found that really tough. After coming off the back of racing last weekend in Rome I wasn’t expecting much, it’s just one final squeeze and race practice before the world champs, and I feel in a good place. Last week exceeded my expectations – I wasn’t expecting to go so fast in the 400m IM, I just focused on things that me and Steve [Tigg] have looked at, especially my breaststroke.

“That’s only a second slower than my swim in Birmingham last year, and moving to Stirling and being in that senior programme has meant that I’m able to hone in on all those little details and get those times down. Going to more international meets and racing some of the best in the world has really helped toom I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made and hopefully drop that even further.”

Additional winners included David Cumberlidge doubling up in the 50m and 100m free, clocking times of 22.62 and 49.43, respectively.

Stirling’s Kathleen Dawson did the same in the women’s sprint backstroke races, stopping the 50m podium in 28.65 while grabbing gold in the 100m in 1:01.59.

The women’s 200m fly saw Keanna MacInnes score gold in 2:09.64 while Edinburgh’s Ciara Schlosshan was the quickest 100m flyer in 59.18. Ed Mildred of Bath took the men’s 100m fly in 52.91.