Colbert takes down ‘supersuit era’ British record

In a session that saw four British athletes sail through semi-final contests, Freya Colbert’s British record swim in the Women’s 200m Freestyle final opened near the top of the bill of Wednesday’s nights schedule in Singapore.

On diving in the Dave Hemmings-coached swimmer raced well into medal contention over the opening lengths but was just pinned back into fourth down the final 25m - finishing less than four tenths off bronze position as she touched in 1:55.06 to topple Joanne Jackson’s 16-year-old mark from Rome 2009.

“I've known I've had to swim like that in in me for a while, like every competition since probably about trials I’ve been saying I want that British record, so to finally sort of back up my words I feel really good [about tonight’s swim],” said Colbert.

“It's not often that I'll say, ‘I want this and I'm going for it’ but I have this year and being able to kind of achieve that and do it by such a big margin is something that I'm really pleased with.

“I definitely would like to keep improving it a little bit more [individually] in the coming years into LA, but first I’ve got the relay tomorrow at the front of my mind to try and go a little bit quicker there.”

Matt Richards returned to the World Aquatics Championships Arena on day four of the swimming action to be the first British athlete booking his lane for a Thursday night final.

In a remarkable second semi-final of the Men’s 100m Freestyle, Richards’s produced a time not far outside his own British record set at the 2023 Fukuoka world championships, as seven of the athletes in his qualifier progressed among the top-eight.

Seeded sixth into the final, Richards commented:

“Really pleased with that -that's got to be one of the most ridiculously quick semi-finals in world champs history.

“I think that's my third fastest 100m free of all time, so it shows I'm in a great place and to do that in the semi is a really good spot to be in, I’ll just try and move that forwards into the final tomorrow.

“When the events as deep as it is now, everybody in that final tomorrow night is capable of being at the very least a 47 low. For me it doesn't really matter where I'm going in [on the lane draw], I've got to go in with the same attitude regardless, just try and get out there after it and see what we can do.”

Rebounding from a near-miss in the morning heats which saw Lauren Cox face a swim-off for the final semi-final spot, the Loughborough Performance Centre swimmer produced a dominant outside lane swim in the evening to make no doubt about her progression.

On booking a central lane for the final after her third swim of the day, Cox said:

“That was good, way better than this morning swim and I was so excited when I saw that I touched first.

“I was going in kind of confident, I just needed to nail the start as I knew my swimming was good as long as I had a half decent start - I think it could still be a little bit better, so hopefully that's the tenth of a second needed to go near my lifetime best.”

Emily Richards was next to secure a spot in a world final as she powered to qualification in the Women’s 200m Butterfly as the fifth fastest seed from lane one of her semi-final, while British teammate, Keanna MacInnes, finished 16th overall in the standings with the pace of the race edging away from her over the second 100m on this occasion.

Speaking on her lifetime best swim taking her into the final, Richards said:

“It's nice to be able to produce that on a world stage and yeah, I'm looking forward to the final to see what I can put down.

“Being in an outside lane, I only had one person on my side, which I think kind of worked in my favour for sticking to the race plan tonight. The aim was to build through the rounds - it's easy to try and aim at the final, but to get out of the heats and then move from the semi to the finals is a positive thing and I'm really glad that I've managed to do that.”

Concluding the British action, Duncan Scott professionally navigated his Men’s 200m Individual Medley semi-final ranked third overall as he followed in Leon Marchands resetting of the world record mark.

“You know I've got a lot of admiration for him, I'm a huge swimming fan and it's an event that I love and yeah it's an unbelievable record,” said Scott.

“It’s tough being next to it, but I put together a really solid swim there and I'm really happy with that. That's one of my fastest ever swims, so hopefully I can tidy up a few things for tomorrow night.”

Stream live free-to-air coverage of the World Aquatics Championships 2025 taking place in Singapore at www.aquaticsgb.com/live.

Wednesday 30th July Swimming results

• Women’s 200m Freestyle: Freya Colbert – 4th overall
• Men’s 100m Freestyle: Matt Richards – 6th into final, Jacob Mills – 23rd Overall
• Women’s 50m Backstroke: Lauren Cox – 2nd into final
• Women’s 200m Butterfly: Emily Richards – 5th into final, Keanna MacInnes – 16th overall
• Men’s 200m Individual Medley: Duncan Scott – 3rd into final, Tom Dean – 23rd overall
• Mixed 4x100m Medley: Katie Shanahan, Max Morgan, Ed Mildred and Freya Anderson – 12th overall

Extended results available on the World Aquatics website here.