Hopkin on hot heats form at Ponds Forge

7 Apr 2022

Anna Hopkin opened her British Swimming Championships with a powerful sprinting performance to lead the way in the Women's 50m Freestyle heats on the third morning at Ponds Forge. 

The Loughborough National Centre competitor was the only athlete under 25 seconds as she eyes a pacey evening effort later, with Isabella Hindley (Brompton) set to be next to her in the centre lanes after an impressive morning swim. 

Duncan Scott eased into the Men's 400m Individual Medley final as the fastest qualifier after a controlled heats display. The man who claimed four Olympic medals at Tokyo 2020 will be in lane four for the final, with fellow University of Stirling competitor Mark Szaranek second fastest and Jacob Greenow (Bath University) rounding out the top three qualifiers ahead of the afternoon heats. 

The Women's 200m Butterfly saw Laura Stephens set the pace in qualifying. Stephens - who recently moved to the Loughborough National Centre after her successful time at Plymouth Leander - led the way from Keanna MacInnes (University of Stirling) and Holly Hibbott (Bath National Centre), as Stephens looks ahead at an attempt to chase the event's World Championship consideration time later in the day.  

An exciting finale to Thursday's action looks set to come in the Men's 100m Freestyle following a storming set of heats, led by Lewis Burras. The Winchester City athlete powered off the blocks, with a stunning opening 50m setting him on the way to a heats time that matched the 48.15 Worlds consideration mark and secured him a new personal best.

He will be keen to improve that again in the final, with Jacob Whittle (Loughborough National Centre) and Tom Dean (Bath National Centre) not far back at all in the heats - meaning we can expect an eye-opening race for the British title to round out day three at Ponds Forge. 

The fastest heat in the Men's 1500m Freestyle - a heat-declared-winner event - will open the day's final proceedings from 6pm, with the afternoon heats session getting underway at 1pm. Every moment from every session continues to be covered with our Deep End Live coverage here.

For the full results from this morning's heats, click here