Watch Ben Proud Rock 21.65 British Record In 50 Free Prelims

2016 BRITISH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS/OLYMPIC TRIALS

• Tuesday, April 12th – Sunday, April 17th
• Tollcross International Swimming Center, Glasgow, Scotland
• Prelims at 10am local/6am EDT; Finals at 6:30pm local/1:30pm EDT
• British Swimming 2016 Olympic Games Selection Policy
• Live Streaming
• DRAFT Psych Sheet
• Start Lists/Results

Racing in prelims on day 6 of the 2016 British Championships, the meet which doubles as the nation’s Olympic Trials, 21-year-old Ben Proud rocked a new British Record in the men’s 50m freestyle.

In the final heat of the morning, Proud scored a time of 21.65 to shave .08 of a second off of his own previous record he earned just in February of this year. The Plymouth Leander swimmer has been on a time-chipping spree as of late, first setting the British record of 21.76 in the prelims of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, then knocking that down to 21.73 competing at the British Universities and Colleges Sport Long Course Swimming Championships (BUCS) in February of last year.

Although not a record, Proud dipped beneath the 22-second threshold again in 2016, competing at the Luxembourg Euro Meet (21.95), putting Proud on the map of top contenders in the world in event so far this season. He remains as 5th-fastest in the world, but is continuing to knock on the door of the big boys such as America’s Nathan Adrian and France’s Florent Manaudou.

Video courtesy of British Swimming; Ben Proud’s race starts at approximately the 1:39.50 mark.

As originally reported by Braden Keith:

MEN’S 50 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS

• British Record – Ben Proud, 21.73, 2016
• 1st Place OLY Standard – 21.51
• 2% Consideration – 21.94

Ben Proud continues to push himself further-and-further ahead of history in British Swimming. He swam a 21.65 in prelims to break his own British Record of 21.73, done in February of this year at the BUCS college championships, leaving him now three-tenths better than the country’s second-fastest ever, the now-retired Adam Brown.

Nobody was within eight-tenths of the Plymouth Leander product in prelims, but his squad that also includes Olympic breaststroke champ Ruta Meilutyte continues to prove why they’re the hottest sprint squad in the country. 18-year old Thomas Fannon (22.54) and Aaron Rickhuss (22.75) gave Jon Rudd’s bunch three of the top four qualifiers into the final.

Top 8 Qualifiers into Finals:

1. Ben Proud, Plymouth Leander, 21.65
2. Andrew Weatheritt, Loughborough, 22.46
3. Thomas Fannon, Plymouth Leander, 22.54
4. Aaron Rickhuss, Plymouth Leander, 22.75
5. Jack Thorpe, Edinburgh, 22.81
6. David Cumberlidge, Edinburgh, 22.87
7. James Disney-May, Loughborough, 22.89
8. Miles Munro, Bath, 22.94