2019 SWIM ENGLAND WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, December 5th – Sunday, December 8th
- Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield, England
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The 2019 Swim England Winter Championships concluded last night in Sheffield, but not before numerous personal bests were thrown down, gold medals were won and the squad from Loughborough made a clean sweep of every single relay.
You can read more about Jacob Whittle‘s British Junior Records, as well as Jocelyn Ulyett‘s 200m breast British and 100m breast English Records in separate posts.
Additionally, City of Sheffield’s Jay Lelliott made quite an impact on the meet, as the 24-year-old nailed 4 individual gold medals over the course of the competition.
Lelliott first took the men’s 400m freestyle with ease, notching the 4th fastest time of his career in 3:42.68. Winning the race by more than 3 1/2 seconds, Lelliott’s win represents his 5th consecutive medal in this event at these Swim England Winter Championships.
Lelliott’s next victim was the 200m back, where the man came within half a second of his lifetime best in a winning mark of 1:52.73.
Finally, Lelliott raced the 100m back and 200m fly within about 30 minutes of one another, topping the former event in a season-best 51.98 while also wrapping up gold in the latter in a mark of 1:53.80. His 200m fly marks a new personal best for the Sheffield star, overtaking his 1:54.83 from way back in 2014. With this outing, Lelliott has become Britain’s 7th fastest performer ever in the event.
Also of note in that men’s 200 fly was the fact that 16-year-old Edward Mildred scorched a new personal best of 1:56.72 for 3rd. That beats his 1:56.83 put up at this same meet last year, although the fact he turns 17 soon precludes his swim from checking in as a new British Junior Record.
Isabella Hindley of Brompton made her presence known at the meet as well, breaking 54 seconds for the first time of her career to seal up the women’s 100 free victory. After clocking a time of 54.39 in the morning heats, Hindley fired off a super quick 53.76 to top the field in the only sub-54 second time, as well as become Britain’s 12th fastest performer all-time.
Hindley also took home gold in the 100m IM, clocking a time of 1:00.80. That’s another massive swim for the 23-year-old who had never been under 1:03 entering the 2019 calendar year.
The women’s 50m free also fell to Hindley, with the Brompton athlete getting her hand on the wall first in a swift 24.39. For good measure, Hindley also wrapped up silver in the 100m back, mustering a PB of 58.66.
Winning the women’s 100m back, however, was Chloe Golding. The 21-year-old City of Manchester swimmer punched a time of 57.84 for a new personal best, upgrading her silver from the 2018 edition of this meet.
Golding also earned the 200m back title for her 3rd consecutive year, clocking a personal best of 2:04.46.
Abbie Wood, of the International Swimming League (ISL), successfully defended her 200m IM title from last year. The Loughborough athlete produced a time of 2:10.42 to beat her competitors by about 3 1/2 seconds.
Wood also nailed the 400m free win in a time of 4:04.21, dropping over 6 seconds from her prelim outing. The 20-year-old found success in the 200m free as well, throwing down 1:56.66 to earn her 3rd individual gold. That represents the first time she’s been under 1:57, with her previous lifetime best sitting at 1:57.15 from last month’s Midlands meet.
Another ISL swimmer, Imogen Clark of Energy Standard, put up the quickest 50m breast time of 29.58 to successfully retain her title from 2018. She set the British Record at 29.43 while winning gold in 2018.
Among the Additional Winners:
- Loughborough’s James McFadzen took gold in the men’s 200m IM in a time of 1:56.38, producing a new PB by over 2 seconds.
- Commonwealth Games silver medalist Jacob Peters surged to the wall first in the men’s 100m fly, logging 51.16 to crush his previous PB of 51.43.
- Braunstone’s Harriet West established a personal best of 57.46 to beat Charlotte Atkinson‘s 58.76 in the women’s 100m fly.
- The men’s 50m free saw Loughborough’s Alexander Bowen get his hand on the wall first in a time of 21.47. He won by over half a second.
- The men’s 50m back saw Stockport Metro swimmer Thonas Howdle get it done, producing a time of 23.92 for gold.
- 21-year-old Emily Crane upgraded her bronze medal from last year’s 50m fly final to a shiny gold this time around, touching in 26.33. That edged out West’s silver medal-worthy 26.39.
- City of Leeds’ Leah Crisp got it done for gold in the 800m free, crushing her previous PB by over 6 seconds to win in 8:24.84. Leicester Sharks’ Michaela Glenister took silver in 8:25.70, about 10 seconds under her previous career quickest.
- Commonwealth Games gold medalist Alys Thomas won the women’s 200m fly in 2:06.10.
- Lilly Booker of Millfield laid waste to her previous 400m IM personal best by over 3 seconds, producing a winning time of 4:36.06. That topped the field convincingly by 4 seconds, giving her both the 18&U and Senior gold.
- Jakob Goodman logged a winning time of 1:45.68 to take the men’s 200m free impressively from lane 8. Of note, Mildred was in this final, too, stopping the clock in 1:47.21 for a new personal best at just 16.
- The men’s 50m fly saw Edoardo Valsecchi produce a winning effort of 23.11 for gold.