Richards & Anderson Log Wins On Night 1 Of 2022 Scottish SC Championships

2022 SCOTTISH NATIONAL SC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, December 9th – Sunday, December 11th
• Royal Commonwealth Pool, Glasgow, Scotland
• SCM (25m)
• Results

In addition to Daniel Wiffen‘s Irish record in the men’s 400m IM, several other notable swims took place tonight on day one of the 2022 Scottish National Short Course Championships.

Newly-minted British national record holder in the men’s 100m freestyle, Matt Richards of Millfield, was back at it, taking on his bread-and-butter event.

The 19-year-old produced a time of 46.75 to top the podium tonight, going 22.31 on the way out and 24.44 on the way home to snag the only sub-47 second time of the field. That’s well off the 45.85 British mark he put up last week at the Swim England Winter Championships but enough to get the job done ahead of Jack McMillan and Ed Mildred.

McMillan of Stirling snagged silver in 47,18 while Mildred rounded out the podium with a mark of 47.67. McMillan owns a lifetime best of 46.70 from last year’s FINA Short Course World Championships while Mildred’s result tonight checks in as a PB by .02.

Fresh off of the Rotterdam Qualification Meet, British ace Freya Anderson also topped the podium this evening.

Anderson stopped the clock in a time of 52.79 to take the women’s 100m freestyle, narrowly defeating American swimmer Catie DeLoof in the process. DeLoof secured runner-up status in 52.92 while fellow Loughbough racer Kornelia Fiedkiewicz brought home the bronze in 53.76.

Anderson represents GBR’s 2nd fastest woman in history in this event, holding a lifetime best of 51.43 from the 2020 International Swimming League (ISL) final. However, her outing here of 52.79 hacked nearly 2 seconds off of the 54.71 silver medal-worthy result she logged in Rotterdam last weekend.

As for DeLoof, the Loughborough-trained American swimmer’s time this evening of 52.92 is less than a second off of her career-quickest 52.20 produced during the aforementioned ISL season.

Another American was in the pool in the form of Paige Madden.

Formerly of the University of Virginia, Madden is representing Loughborough at these Championships. The 2020 Olympic medalist posted a winning time of 2:06.22 to just out-touch teammate Honey Osrin in tonight’s 200m back contest.

Osrin settled for silver in 2:06.38 while Freya Colbert was a ways back in 2:07.96 for bronze.

We reported this summer that Madden is training at Loughborough as she pursues a master’s degree in clinical exercise physiology.

Colbert did get to the wall first in an event earlier in the session, however, with the 18-year-old producing a result of 4:34.24 in the women’s 400m IM.

Clocking the only sub-4:40 time of the field, Colbert nearly matched her personal best of 4:34.21 from last year, falling just .03 short.

Additional Winners

• Archie Goodburn took home the gold in the men’s 50m breast, clocking 26.55 as the only sub-27 second athlete of the field. Kara Hanlon of Edinburgh followed suit for the women, topping the podium in 30.57. That established a new Scottish national record, overtaking the 30.71 Corrie Scott put on the books 8 years ago in this same pool.
• Commonwealth Games champion Brodie Williams brought his A-game to take the men’s 200m backstroke handily. The 23-year-old put up a mark of 1:51.81 to get under the 1:52 barrier for the first time in his career. Williams’ personal best entering these championships sat at the 1:52.54 he posted 4 years ago.
• Jacob Peters was tonight’s 50m fly gold medalist, beating out two tough competitors in Richards and multi-Olympic medalist Duncan Scott. Peters touched in 22.73 to Richards’ 23.15 and Scott’s 23.52.
• Fiedkiewicz was the winner of the women’s 50m fly, logging 26.15 for the victory.