Oliver Morgan, Angharad Evans Complete Sweeps As 2025 BUCS Concludes

2025 BUCS LONG COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, February 14th – Sunday, February 16th
• Ponds Forge International Swimming Centre, Sheffield, England
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Meet Central
• Draft Entries
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Live Results
• Livestream

The 2025 British Universities & Colleges (BUCS) Long Course Championships concluded tonight with plenty of star power competing at the Ponds Forge International Swimming Centre. Athletes representing Loughborough, Stirling, Edinburgh and beyond dove in over the course of the 3-day affair, vying for team points.

As a refresher, in each event, only the fastest individual from each institution scored points. Individual events were scored by 1st place being awarded 20 points, 2nd place 19 points, continuing with a decreasing points scale for subsequently ranked placings in the order of 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, etc. down to 1 point.

While not a selection meet, this competition served as an important benchmark ahead of the all-important British Swimming Championships on the calendar for April 15th-20th. That meet represents the sole qualification opportunity for swimmers not already qualified for this year’s World Championships.

Irish Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen was the one to beat in the men’s 400m free, putting up a solid in-season effort of 3:49.35 for the victory.

30-year-old Olympic multi-medalist James Guy was next to the wall in 3:50.04 followed by Loughborough’s Tyler Melbourne-Smith who notched 3:51.45 for bronze.

Courtesy of his time of 3:48.91 at last month’s City of Sheffield Winter Meet, Guy remains ranked as the #1 swimmer in the world in this event. Wiffen’s time this evening renders him the #3 performer in the world thus far this season.

Guy’s effort last month represented the veteran’s first performance in that distance since the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Guy earned bronze there in Glasgow in a time of 3:45.32 while his lifetime best remains at the British national record of 3:43.75 he established en route to snagging silver at the 2015 World Championships behind champion Sun Yang of China (3:42.58).

University of Stirling’s Keanna MacInnes grabbed another gold, this time in the women’s 200m fly.

24-year-old MacInnes stopped the clock at 2:09.78 to top the podium, getting the edge over British national champion and Olympian Laura Stephens who settled for silver in 2:10.09.

Edinburgh’s Ciara Schlosshan rounded out the podium in 2:11.00.

Twenty-two-year-old Angharad Evans of Stirling, a former University of Georgia Bulldog, completed her trifecta of breaststroke victories by winning the women’s 200m breaststroke on the final night of action.

Evans stopped the clock at 2:22.64 to beat the field decisively. Lily Booker of Loughborough was the next-closest competitor over 6 seconds behind in 2:29.19.

Evans’ result checks her in as the #1 performer in the world this season and the sole athlete to have dipped under the 2:23 threshold thus far.

Loughborough’s Lauren Cox got it done for gold in 27.60 in the women’s 50m back, beating the pack by over a second.

21-year-old Niamh Ward of Bath earned silver in 29.02 followed by Sophie De Groot who turned in a time of 29.16.

Cox owns a lifetime best of 27.20 in this event, an outing she put on the books in 2023 to become GBR’s #2 performer of all time. Only Kathleen Dawson has been faster, owning a PB and British national record of 27.19 from 2021.

Finally, 22-year-old Oliver Morgan of Birmingham completed his sweep of the men’s backstroke events. He put up a time of 24.77 to decisively take the 50m back victory in the sole sub-25-second outing of the pack.

Cam Brooker and Jack Skerry, both of Bath, tied as runners-up, hitting 25.53 simultaneously.

As for Morgan, his result was only .04 outside the lifetime best of 24.73 logged at the 2024 edition of this competition. That rendered him the #2 British performer of all time, sitting only behind national record holder Liam Tancock‘s mark of 24.04 from the 2009 World Championships.

Additional Notes

• Bath went 1-2 in the men’s 200m fly, with Josh Gammon getting to the wall first in 2:00.81 followed by teammate Hendrik Van Der Leest who registered 2:01.07. Loughborough’s 3-time Olympian Max Litchfield was the bronze medalist in 2:01.15.
• Kornelia Fiedkiewicz was too quick to catch in the women’s 50m free, posting 25.43 for the gold. Stirling’s Evie Davies was next to the wall in 25.60 while Loughborough’s Harriet Rogers bagged bronze in 25.95.
• Olympian and University of Florida commit Alex Cohoon led the men’s 50m freestyle, turning in a time of 22.52 to be the top performer. Leeds Becket’s Jordan Cooley punched 22.71 for silver, narrowly beating Loughborough’s Calvin Fry, who rounded out the podium in 22.79.
• The men’s 200m breast saw Greg Butler post 2:12.44 to beat the field by nearly a second. Stirling’s George Smith snagged silver in 2:13.39 while Butler’s Loughborough teammate Alexander Casey earned 3rd place in 2:14.28.
• Lucy Fox of Loughborough topped the women’s 400m free podium in 4:16.78. She owns a lifetime best of 4:14.30 from last year’s Olympic Trials meet.