Daniel Wiffen Rocks 14:31.81 SCM 1500 Free On Night One Of 2024 BUCS (original) (raw)
2024 BUCS SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, November 15th – Sunday, November 17th
- Ponds Forge International Swimming Centre, Sheffield, England
- SCM (25m)
- Meet Central
- Draft Entries
- SwimSwam Preview
- Results
- Livestream
The 2024 British Universities & Colleges (BUCS) Short Course Championships began on Friday, November 15th with the 3-day competition taking place at Ponds Forge.
Swimmers are vying for individual titles but primarily for team points in their quest to come away with the men’s, women’s and overall team trophies.
As a refresher, BUCS points are awarded to the top 4 swimmers/teams; however, only the top 2 swimmers from each institution, or 1 team per institution for relay events, are eligible for BUCS points. If there are not enough eligible swimmers/teams in the top 4 to earn points, then the remaining points will be awarded to the next-best eligible swimmers/teams based on the rest finals or heats results.
20-year-old Olympian Freya Colbert made her presence known for Loughborough across 2 events, striking gold in each.
Colbert first tried the women’s 200m free on for size where she notched a winning effort of 1:54.23 to top the podium in decisive fashion.
She beat the field by over 3 seconds en route to coming within striking distance of her lifetime best of 1:54.07 from last year’s European Short Course Championships. The next-closest swimmer was represented by Aimee Monks of Swansea who clocked 1:57.52 while another Olympian, Laura Stephens, rounded out the podium in 1:57.76.
Colbert’s next victim was the 200m IM where she produced a gold medal-worthy 2:08.36. That once again set herself apart from the field by over 2 seconds, hitting a new PB in the process.
Entering this competition, Colbert’s career-quickest rested at the 2:09.94 registered at last year’s Swim England Winter Championships. Her effort on day 1 here now inserts her into slot #8 among all-time performing British women.
University of Stirling standout Angharad Evans was the woman to beat in the 50m breaststroke, firing off a new lifetime best of 29.96 en route to the victory.
Evans’ time now renders the 21-year-old as just the 2nd British woman ever to clear the 30-second barrier in the event, joining national record holder Imogen Clark who owns the British standard at 29.17 from the 2023 Swim England Winter Championships.
Anna Morgan logged 30.65 as the runner-up and Katie Goodburn captured bronze in 30.96.
Birmingham’s Oliver Morgan continued his impressive run of backstroke performances, putting up a winning time of 50.97 to beat runner-up Matthew Ward by nearly a second.
Bath’s Ward snagged silver in 51.95 and teammate Jack Skerry also landed on the podium in 52.29 for bronze.
As for Morgan, the 21-year-old’s outing on day one represented his first-ever foray under the 51-second barrier. Entering this competition, Morgan’s PB rested at the 51.57 from the 2023 European Short Course Championships. He moves up 2 spots on the British all-time performers list to now rank 7th.
Two-time Olympic medalist Daniel Wiffen got the job done in the men’s 1500m free, giving Loughborough the win in 14:31.81. That beat out runner-up Tyler Melbourne-Smith by over 28 seconds, with Melbourne-Smith representing the only other man under 15:00 in 14:59.87.
Wiffen’s 800m free gold in Paris this past summer made history, with the 23-year-old earning Northern Ireland’s first individual Olympic gold since 1972.
Additional Notes
- Scottish national record holder Keanna MacInnes put up a time of 57.70 to narrowly defeat teammate Lucy Grieve in the women’s 100m fly. Grieve settled for silver in 57.76 and Stephens earned another bronze in 58.27.
- Great Britain’s #2 men’s 100m fly performer of all time, Josh Gammon, hit a result of 51.46 to earn gold in the event here in Sheffield. Gammon, who was just named to the British roster for next month’s Short Course World Championships, clocked 51.46 as the sole sub-52-second performer of the pack.
- Loughborough’s Greg Butler won the men’s 50m breast in 27.02, just .,08 ahead of Archie Goodburn of Edinburgh. Goodburn is remarkably racing here and was named to next month’s SC Worlds roster, despite having been diagnosed with inoperable brain tumors in June.
- Melbourne-Smith took on the 200m free prior to his 1500m free silver. He won 2free gold in 1:44.29, a new personal best.
- Scottish ace Katie Shanahan was too quick to catch in the women’s 100m back, posting a time of 58.57 as the sole swimmer under the 59-second threshold.
- Olympian Max Litchfield owned the men’s 200m IM, turning in a winning effort of 1:55.62. Litchfield painstakingly finished 4th in the 400m IM at the past 3 Olympic Games.
- Fleur Lewis posted a time of 16:08.61 to get to the wall over 7 seconds ahead of the rest of the women’s 1500m free competitors.
In This Story
Daniel Wiffen
Max Litchfield
About Retta Race
Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.