Ramsay-Peaty, Macinnes and Maskill amongst the National Champions crowned on the opening night of the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships
The opening night of the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships marked Adam Ramsay-Peaty’s emphatic return to the London Aquatics Centre, taking victory in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke and securing a spot on the team for the upcoming European Aquatics Championships in Paris. The reigning junior world champion Filip Nowacki pushed Ramsay-Peaty all the way to finish in second place, also qualifying for the European event, while 18-year-old Max Morgan came in third to complete the podium.
Speaking after the race, Ramsay-Peaty said: “It feels very good – it’s great to race those boys, they’re a lot younger than me so they can obviously spring it a lot faster, but I did the job there and now it’s about debriefing and seeing where we can go from here. It’s an incredible event, and it’s been the perfect day really. I didn’t think I could get that result so that’s now the marker, that’s the baseline, so how do we turn that into a low 57 again. For me, I’m a racer, and I just want to extract the best of myself.”
Keanna Macinnes earned her place on the Europeans team with a win in the Women’s 200m Butterfly, with Emily Richards finishing in second to also claim a Europeans place. Ciara Schlosshan took the bronze medal.
Macinnes admitted afterwards she had mixed emotions, saying: “I think I had more in the tank, my training has been going really well but I got a little bit too excited in the first 100 but it is what it is, and I qualified (for the European Championships). It would have been nice to peak here, but it’s more important to do that come the summertime, but I am pleased, it’s the top of the podium so I can’t really ask for more.”
It was stalwart James Guy who was victorious in the Men’s 400m Freestyle, taking the lead within the first 50m which he then held for the remainder of the race to qualify him for the European Championships. Jack McMillan pushed Guy hard to finish in second place, posting a time that will likely put him into consideration by the selectors for Paris. Tyler Melbourne-Smith finished third.
In the Women’s 100m Freestyle event, Eva Okaro laid down a personal best time to take the win after qualifying in sixth position, with Evelyn Davis finishing in second and Freya Colbert in third.
Reflecting on her victory from the outside lane, Okaro said: “It was really fun, it hurt a lot, I wasn’t expecting to get that time but it was a good race. I didn’t think I was going to qualify sixth, my swim this morning wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, so I thought sprint a fast 50, be ahead and then see what I can hold on the way back.”
Imogen Clark won the national title in the Women’s 50m Breaststroke, in a time marginally outside of automatic qualification for Paris, with Anna Morgan and Gabrielle Idle-Beavers finishing in second and third place respectively.
In the Mixed Classification events, it was Sam Downie (S8) who swam to first place in the Men’s MC 400m Freestyle, followed by Kieran Williams (S10) and Max Davies (S8). Bruce Dee (SB6) was victorious in the Men’s MC 100m Breaststroke, with Harry Stewart (SB14) and Kai Bradford (SB8) in third. Race favourite Poppy Maskill (S14) won the Women’s MC 100m Freestyle, with Bethany Firth (S14) finishing in second and Georgia Sheffield (S14) finishing in third place.
The racing resumes tomorrow, where eight more National Champions to be crowned. Every A finals session from this year’s Aquatics GB Swimming Championships will be broadcast live from 7.45pm across BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, as well as live coverage of heats (9.30am) and finals (6pm onwards) on the Aquatics GB YouTube channel.
The Aquatics GB social media channels will provide exclusive behind-the-scenes content throughout the meet.
Full results, start lists and schedules are available on the Swimming Results website.
Limited tickets are still available across the 2026 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships through SEE Tickets