2022 BRITISH COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES (BUCS) C’SHIPS
- Friday, February 18th – Sunday, February 20th
- Ponds Forge, Sheffield
- LCM (50m)
- Results
The 2022 British Colleges & Universities (BUCS) Long Course Championships took place over the weekend, with top talent from Loughborough, Edinburgh, Stirling and more taking to Ponds Forge.
As with the SC Championships last November, spectators were treated to performances by Swede Louise Hansson and Austrian Felix Auboeck, both of whom raced stateside in the NCAA and now represent Loughborough.
25-year-old Hansson made her presence known across several events, including the women’s 100m fly. Hansson logged a quick time of 57.64 to not only take the gold but to represent the only swimmer of the field to delve under a minute.
Splitting 27.11/30.53, Hansson’s 57.64 performance here sits just outside her list of top 10 personal quickest swims. Her top time ever sits at the 56.22 she posted in the Olymp final in Tokyo, placing 5th there.
Hansson also won the women’s 100m free, putting up a time of 55.26. She and Stirling’s Emma Russell marked the only two racers to get under 56 seconds, with Russell snagging silver in 55.90.
As for Auboeck, the former Michigan Wolverine was the top man in the 200m freestyle, reaping gold in 1:49.03, while also helping the Loughborough men top the 400m free and 400m medley relay podiums.
The women’s 100m breaststroke saw Kara Hanlon take down a Scottish national record en route to reaping the BUCS championships title. Hanlon posted a time of 1:07.64 to become her nation’s fastest-ever swimmer in this event.
The Edinburgh athlete opened in 31.53 and closed in 36.11 to knock .03 off of the longstanding Scottish standard of 1:07.67 Kirsty Balfour put on the books back at the 2007 World Championships.
Finally, Medi Harris made history for Wales, overtaking a storied Georgia Davies record in the women’s 100m backstroke.
Representing Swansea, Harris threw down the fastest time of her career in 59.30, crushing the field by over two seconds. Splitting 28.65/30.65, Harris’ 1back result here shaved .04 off of Davies’ previous mark of 59.34 logged in 2018.
Entering this meet, Harris had never before broken the minute mark, owning a PB of 1:00.38 from July of last year. As such, she managed to drop over a second off of that previous career-best to now enter entirely new territory.
With her performance, Harris now becomes Great Britain’s 3rd fastest 100m backstroker of all time, sitting only behind Kathleen Dawson (58.08, 2021) and Gemma Spofforth (58.12, 2009).
She was very fast as a 15yo, then covid struck when she was on the cusp of improvements, so it was nice to see her do this; Suspect we’ll see a fair amount of youngsters making big drops again this year. A shame to see the legend that is Georgia Davies’ Welsh record go down so soon after retirement, but she’ll be thrilled for Medi.
England still don’t have a female backstroker for women’s medley and mixed medley for commies lol
wonder if it would be worth putting Greenbank on leadoff in mixed medley since England’s best female backstroker goes like a 1:01
Then they can’t use Guy on fly. What female flyer do they have?
Laura Stephens, went 57.9 at trials last year and 57.5 on a relay at euros last year
Scotland is looking like the most solid team from GB for the womens medley, with Dawson-Hanlon-MacInnes-Davis. Suspect England will go back to the old MMFF for the mixed medley.
Im pretty sure Cox-Renshaw-Stephens-Hopkin is still stronger. Renshaw is 1.5 seconds faster, Stephens 0.5-1 and Hopkin 2.5. Dawson wouldnt outsplit Cox by 4/5 seconds.
4 English women went 1:01 in 2021. Alicia Wilson went 1.01.0, Dawson would need a 56/57.0 split to push Scotland through herself
Hopkin outsplits Hope by 1.5 max imo.
Hopes only roling takover split last year was her 54.73 in the Olympic 4×100 final. Hopkin went 52.00 in the mixed medley final
Wouldn’t be surprised if Davis usurps Hope on anchor for Scotland.
Kara Hanlon swam 1.07.6 at BUCS and I suspect we’ll see further drops this summer, so the advantage England have on breaststroke will be less than 1.5s imo. I still see England as the most likely bronze medal winner, but one of the backstrokers will need to step up to sure things up.
Well hello there, where did that Harris performance come from?!
only 19 still too, bright future ahead.