Wiffen Nails 3:39.57 In 400 Free At BUCS, Now Ranks #1 Across 400/800/1500 Free

2023 BRITISH UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES (BUCS) SC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, November 17th – Sunday, November 19th
• Ponds Forge International Swimming Centre, Sheffield, England
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Draft Entries
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Live Results
• Livestream

The 2023 British Universities & Colleges (BUCS) Short Course Championships concluded last night from Sheffield. Powerhouse Loughborough took home the overall team trophy, as well as the separate women’s and men’s trophies.

Well and truly #PurpleReign at Short Course Swimming Championships as @Lboroswimming take the open, women's and overall champions trophy 🏆

Huge congratulations, @LboroSport 💜 #BUCSSwim pic.twitter.com/ttmB7xcHzW

— BUCS (@BUCSsport) November 20, 2023

Right off the bat on the final night, Calvin Fry of the winning squad topped the men’s 100m free podium in a time of 47.97. That got the edge over teammate Alex Cohoon who touched in 48.12 for silver while Bath’s Cam Brooker rounded out the top 3 in 48.21.

Fry won the men’s 50m free on night 2 and the 19-year-old’s time in the 100m free checks in as a lifetime best and his first-ever foray under the 48-second barrier in the event.

Also from Loughborough, Kornelia Fiedkiewicz, who represents Poland internationally, grabbed the gold in the women’s 100m free in a time of 53.37. Stirling’s Evie Davis was next to the wall in 53.80 while Bath’s Jemima Hall also landed on the podium in 54.57 for bronze.

Later in the same session, 22-year-old Fidkiewicz won the women’s 50m fly, registering a time of 25.80.

Bath’s Josh Gammon took the men’s 200m fly by well over a second, hitting a time of 1:54.70. His outing was within half a second of his lifetime best of 1:54.31 from last year’s English Winter Championships with that faster time rendering the 20-year-old GBR’s 9th-fastest performer all-time.

Keanna MacInnes of Stirling powered her way to the women’s 200m fly victory, beating Loughborough’s Laura Stephens by a fingernail.

MacInnes registered a time of 2:06.12 to Stephens’ 2:06.23. The pair now insert themselves into the season’s world rankings in slots #1 and #3, respectively, with MacInnes dethroning Italy’s Ilaria Cusinato (2:06.19).

Additionally, MacInnes’ time established a new Scottish Record, beating gout her own previous benchmark of 2:06.46 from 2 years ago.

Cam Brooker of Bath logged a time of 50.95 to win 1fly gold over British national champion Oliver Morgan who settled for runner-up in 51.36.

Brooker’s result overtook his previous lifetime best of 51.64 in this event, meaning his performance here was his first time beneath the 51-second barrier. As a result, the 21-year-old now ranks as GBR’s 5th-best performer in history and he sits just outside the top 5 swimmers in the world this season.

Irishman Daniel Wiffen proved again he’s one of the most formidable distance freestylers on the planet, taking the 400m free decisively to close out his BUCS campaign.

Wiffen stopped the clock in 3:39.57 to register his 2nd-best performance ever and just his 2nd time under the 3:40 threshold.

His time now overtakes the top spot in the season’s world rankings, supplanting Sweden’s Victor Johansson who also was sub-4:00 thus far in 3:39.82.

In fact, Wiffen now ranks #1 in the world across the SCM 400, 800 and 1500 freestyle events heading into the European Short Course Championships.

Additional Winners

• Following up on his victory in the 400m IM, 21-year-old Loughborough man Charlie Hutchison scored the gold in the 200m IM in 1:57.88.
• Stirling’s Katie Shanahan wrangled up the top spot ahead of Freya Colbert in the women’s 200m IM. Shanahan touched in 2:07.80 while Colbert collected silver in 2:09.04. Colbert would win the women’s 400m free later in the session at 4:03.39, crushing the field by about 5 seconds.
• The women’s 100m back saw European Short Course Championships-bound Lauren Cox get to the wall first in 58.89.
• Archie Goodburn of Edinburgh followed up his 50m breast and 100m IM wins with a victory in the men’s 100m breast. He nabbed gold in 58.74.
• Sophie Hansson hit a time of 1:04.78 as the top omen’s 100m breaststroke performer.
• Swansea’s Lewis Fraser earned 50m fly gold in 23.24, just .01 ahead of runner-up Gammon.