Anderson and Guy lead the way with golden hat-tricks at Flanders

20 Jan 2020

Freya Anderson and James Guy secured a hat-trick of gold medals apiece as British swimmers enjoyed a successful start to the 2020 season at the Flanders Cup in Belgium over the weekend.

Anderson picked up where she left off at the end of last year - with her maiden senior individual titles at December's European Short Course Championships - by dominating the sprint Freestyle events, recording victories in the Women's 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle finals. 

Those displays included a new personal best and Flanders meet record of 1:56.06 in the 200m category, making her the third-fastest British woman of all time across that distance. The Ellesmere College Titans athlete also set a new PB in the 50m event.

World champion swimmer Guy also left the Olympic Aquatic Centre Wezenberg with a trio of gold medals in tow, courtesy of Men's 200m Freestyle and 100m Butterfly wins on the opening day of competition - the latter in a meet record - before triumphing in the 100m Freestyle final on Sunday. The National Centre Bath man was a mere 0.03 seconds off his personal best in that event.

James Guy
James Guy won 100m Freestyle, 200m Freestyle and 100m Butterfly gold at Flanders

Holly Hibbott was another British athlete to impress at Flanders, as she claimed 400m Freestyle gold and silver in the 200m Butterfly, while her Stockport Metro teammate Katie Matts won a medal of each colour, with 400m Individual Medley gold backed up by a 200m Individual Medley silver and bronze in the 200m Breaststroke.

Also among the golds were Charlie Hutchinson (Ellesmere College Titans) - thanks to a 200m Individual Medley triumph, as well as a silver over the 400m distance - and Elliott Clogg (City Of Sheffield), who won the Men's 200m Backstroke event. Stephen Taylor (Ellesmere College Titans), Jessica Fullalove (National Centre Bath) and Thomas Paine (City Of Manchester Aquatics) clinched bronze in the Men's 200m Breaststroke, Women's 100m Backstroke and Men's 200m Individual Medley respectively. Meanwhile, 15-year-old Jacob Whittle (Derventio eXcel) broke the British 100m Freestyle age-group record twice in a day, on the way to a tied fourth-placed finish.