James Wilby Clocks Sub-Minute 100 Breast To Set Sights On Gold Coast

2017 SWIM ENGLAND NATIONAL WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, December 13th – Sunday, December 17th
• Ponds Forge, Sheffield
• LCM
• Commonwealth Games selection at stake
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A few more qualification times were met on day 2 in Sheffield to increase the likelihood of additional squad members being added to the already-selected roster headed to next year’s Commonwealth Games . James Wilby looks likely to have punched his ticket to the Gold Coast, having notched two personal bests on the day in the men’s 100m breaststroke.

Wilby represented the only swimmer to delve into sub-minute territory bot in the prelims and in finals, first clocking a personal best of 59.99, then lowering that a hair further to 59.95 in the evening. With that result, the 24-year-old Loughborough swimmer successfully cleared the 59.98 qualification time and may potentially be joining Adam Peaty in the event next year at the Games.

A trio of women cracked the 1:01.25 qualification time in the 100m backstroke, led by Bath’s Jessica Fullalove. She was the top finishing British athlete, stopping the clock at 1:00.65, while Manchester Aquatics’ Chloe Golding also touched beneath the QT in 1:01.22. Neither was a match for the actual winner of the race tonight, which was visiting teenager from Canada, Taylor Ruck.

Following up on her Canadian record-matching performance last night in the 200m free, 17-year-old Ruck fired off a swift 1:00.09 to easily win the 100m back tonight. The mark is less than a second off of her own personal best, which stands at the 59.23 notched at the World Junior Championships in Indianapolis this summer. 16-year-old Kayla Sanchez, also from HPC Ontario, scored the 3rd fastest mark, finishing in 1:00.94 for an impressive swim.

Sanchez wasn’t done, however, as the teen took the 50m freestyle win in 25.29, just .04 over Bath swimmer Anna Hopkin. Hopkin touched in 25.33, which is above the QT of 24.49. As such, at this point no woman has qualified outright to make the British roster in this splash n’ dash event.

Additional Winners on the Day:

• Cameron Kurle was tonight’s 200m freestyle winner, logging a personal best of 1:48.86, a time outside the QT of 1:47.53. National record holder James Guy has already been selected for the event.
• Joe Litchfield was hoping to join brother Max Litchfield in the 400m IM event, but fell shy with his 4:18.70 winning effort this evening. He needed to match 4:16.63 for consideration.
• Finally, Holly Hibbott was already selected to the Commonwealth Games squad in the 800m freestyle, but still secured a win tonight in a time of 8:38.54.