Olympic Champion Adam Peaty had the crowd on their feet on the opening day of the British Swimming Championships as he defended his title in the 100m Breaststroke.
Peaty (National Centre Loughborough) reached the 50m mark first to show his dominance in the event and carved out a further lead in the final half of the race.
He showed his power through the pool to win the gold medal and meet the British qualifying time for the World Championships.
“A lot of people struggle to go to an Olympics, win it and then carry on,” Peaty said. “That’s when me and Mel [Marshall] said if we do this and win we come back and carry on doing the same for the next four years to Tokyo. We still had a lot of work to do on my race when we came home.
“This is the kind of arena I was born in and this is what I race for but a race is a race for me and this is what I showed tonight hopefully.
“I am loving the environment in Loughborough. We have a great support team and the guys at British Swimming are really helping me with my race. I can still move it on for Budapest which is exciting.”
- Adam Peaty - Men's 100m Breaststroke Champion“I am loving the environment in Loughborough. We have a great support team and the guys at British Swimming are really helping me with my race. I can still move it on for Budapest which is exciting.”
Ross Murdoch (University of Stirling) won the silver medal with James Wilby (National Centre Loughborough) winning bronze.
Olympic silver medallist James Guy led the way in the 400m Freestyle as he showed his skills to take the race out from the start.
The National Centre Bath swimmer led from the first turn and put in a world class performance to swim under the consideration time for the World Championships.On the final 50m he was chased down by Perth City’s Stephen Milne and City of Sheffield’s Max Litchfield.
- James Guy - Men's 400m Freestyle Champion“It’s a great starting point to the season for me. It’s given me confidence for the rest of the week. This morning felt a bit groggy but tonight was good and I have the 200m Fly next and hopefully I can have a good swim there."
“There were a lot of fast guys there tonight and that’s great for the British team. I swam my own race with my own tactics and luckily it paid off.
“World Championships are the main target for me this year. I know I have so much more to give and I can’t wait.”
It was Olympic silver medallist Milne that took the second spot and also secured a consideration time for the World Championships in Budapest this summer. Litchfield won the bronze.
Olympic finalist Hannah Miley took victory in the 400m Individual Medley after pulling back into the lead in the Breaststroke leg of the race.
She showed her experience to not let the lead slip away from her and won the race with a consideration time for the World Championships in the summer.
“I was really excited to have those girls there to push it because when you get to international stage you get pushed all the way,” Miley said. “It’s fantastic to see so many youngsters getting involved with the event and pushing it on. They have made a big jump and it’s so good to see.
“I’ve made a lot of changes this season and the heat swim was solid and that was solid too tonight. I just need to keep working on it and get better.”
Aimee Willmott (London Aquatics Performance Programme) won the silver medal and swam under the consideration time for the World Championships. National Centre Loughborough’s Abbie Wood swam to bronze in a new personal best time of 4:37.25.
City of Sheffield’s Eleanor Faulkner won the women’s 200m Freestyle in a new personal best time of 1:57.88 after carving out a commanding lead in the final 50m of the race.
Faulkner started the race well leading into the first 100m and took the gold ahead of Edinburgh University’s Kathryn Greenslade and Olympic silver medallist Jazz Carlin (National Centre Bath).
“It feels great to have won that medal,” Faulkner said. “It’s all I’ve dreamt about these last few months. To be on the world stage you need to be faster and faster again.
“It makes it 1o times better to have your home crowd here. They really pushed me on in the final 50m.”
Olympian Chris Walker-Hebborn took the gold medal in the 50m Backstroke in a close race which saw him beat Loughborough
University’s Joe Elwood and City of Glasgow’s Craig McNally into silver and bronze medal position.
Imogen Clark (Loughborough University) swam to a new British Record in the 50m Breaststroke after she touched in a time of 30.21. She was joined on the podium by Sarah Vasey (National Centre Loughborough) and Corrie Scott (Edinburgh University).
Perry Gardner (Plymouth Leander) took the victory in the Target Tokyo 50m Backstroke with Liam White (Exeter City) finishing second followed by Alasdair Wright (Loughborough University) in third.
Perth City’s Scott McLay took the victory in the Junior 50m Backstroke final. City of Sheffield’s Elliot Clogg finished second and Wycombe District’s James McFadzen took third place.
The Target Tokyo final of the 50m Breaststroke was taken by Megan Morrison (Loughborough University) with Rebecca Burton (City of Peterborough) finishing second and Grace Gilroy (Loughborough University) finishing third.
Angharad Evans (West Suffolk) won the Junior final of the 50m Breaststroke and Katie Robertson (South Ayreshire) and Tatiana Belonogoff (Guildford City) finished second and third respectively.
Stockport Metro’s Holly Hibbott took a strong victory in the Target Tokyo final of the 200m Freestyle as she beat off competition from Maya Westlake (City of Sheffield) and Georgina Boyle (National Centre Bath).
Nikki Miller (East Kilbride) won the Junior final of the 200m Freestyle with Ellesmere College’s Tazmin Pugh finishing second and City of Bristol’s Jessica Podger finishing third.
It was Tom Derbyshire (National Centre Bath) that took a close victory in the Target Tokyo 400m Freestyle final just ahead of Tobias Ronbinson (National Centre Loughborough) and Cameron Kurle (National Centre Bath).
Luke Turley (Hatfield) came out on top in the Junior 400m Freestyle final with Harrison Coulter (Stockport Metro) and Kieran Bird (Millfield) finishing second and third.
Chanel Sneddon (F.I.R.S.T.) won the Target Tokyo 400m Individual Medley final with a swim that saw her beat Niamh McDonagh (Borough of Stockton) and Amber Keegan (City of Sheffield) into second and third place.
Newcastle’s Emily Large won the Junior final of the 400m Individual Medley with City of Sheffield’s Amy Bell finishing second and Alicia Wilson (Guildford City) finishing third.
National Centre Loughborough’s Edward Baxter won the Target Tokyo final of the 100m Breaststroke followed by Luke Davies (National Centre Bath) and Kieran Preston (Edinburgh University).
The Junior final of the 100m Breaststroke saw first and second place come from the two outside lanes with Callum Smart (City of Oxford) winning from lane eight and James McFadzen (Wycombe District) finishing second from lane one. Third place was Harry Devlin (York City).For full results from the British Swimming Championships click here and for tickets click here.