Tully Kearney, Abduljabar Adama and Scarlett Humphrey were among the standout performers on a red-hot fourth day of action at the 2022 Speedo British Summer Championships.
City of Manchester Aquatics’ Kearney went inside her own S5 world record mark to secure victory in the Women’s MC 100m Freestyle. Tully touched the wall in a time of 1:11.71 to register 1116 points, emphatically enough for the gold medal and fast enough to secure an eye-catching new official European record.
It was that event that kicked off the proceedings on a memorable Monday at Ponds Forge, with the final involving a number of swimmers who had recently competed at the World Para-Swimming Championships in Madeira. Northampton’s Scarlett Humphrey came into the event having broken the S11 British record in the event following the heats by swimming a time of 1:15.23, her third British mark of the competition. It was Kearney who took the win though, her world-beating performance comfortably securing the victory ahead of Rushden’s Amber Haycock (S10) in silver, and Enfield’s Charlotte Hyde (S7), who took the bronze.
Meanwhile, it was Abduljabar Adama of Mount Kelly who earned the plaudits in the Men's 13/14 year 100m Freestyle final, as he secured the 13-year-old British record with a time of 53.47. He did well to come back to win the race with a dominant back 50m, after touching in fourth position after the halfway mark.
The Men’s MC 100m Freestyle Final had a hard act to follow,
yet it did well to provide a three-strong dash for the finish, as Roan Brennan
of Basildon Phoenix managed to get his hand to the wall first following a
measured swim. The silver went to fellow S9 competitor Tomas Navarro-Barber of
Portsmouth North Sea, with Newquay’s Kieran Williams (S10) taking the bronze after
the points were applied.
The Women’s 200m Butterfly events followed; City of Salford’s Amelie Blocksidge adding another gold medal to her tally - a fourth of this meet - as she won a highly competitive 13/14 year-old final. The remaining two medals were fought for right until the death, as Northumberland and Durham’s Seren Tallantyre won the silver by touching out Carn Brea’s Edie Price by less than a tenth of a second into bronze.
A spirited performance from City of Sheffield’s Erin Tankard saw her win the 15-year-old final, as she held off spirited challenges down the last 50 metres from Nova Centurion’s Evie Johnson and Plymouth Leander’s Lacey Roberts, who earned silver and bronze respectively.
The trend continued, the 16-year-old final giving the crowd one of the most intense head-to-head battles we have seen so far. Wycombe District’s Lucy Fox was leading for virtually the entire length of the race before City of Sheffield’s Ashleigh Baillie touched out her rival to win gold, the latter refusing to get left behind. The bronze medal went to Baillie’s clubmate Isabella Shering.
The fastest time of the event came in the 19 & over final, as the competition in the race never really slowed. It was another two-person race between Aberdeen’s Yvonne Brown and Northampton’s Betsy Wizard, as the latter held off a late challenge to take the gold medal. A tight battle was also had for the bronze, before the last 25 metres showed Barnet’s Fleur Lewis into the top three.
The night quickly moved to the Men’s 100m Freestyle spectacle, with a host of impressive performances from the top seeds becoming the story of the event. The 16-year-old final was no exception, as it provided a truly impressive charge down the last 25 metres from Portsmouth’s George Snow to take the victory from Chelsea’s Nicholas Finch, who up until the later stages of the race seemed to have it under control. This then pushed West Suffolk’s silver-hopeful Matthew Baker into bronze.
The 17-year-old final followed, with third-seed Reuben Rowbotham-Keating continuing his impressive meet with a strong victory. Despite seemingly consistent speeds from the other competitors, it was the City of Manchester Aquatics swimmer who managed to come out the clear winner. A small surge from Plymouth Leander’s Jacob Whibley was enough to see him into the silver, with City of Liverpool’s Tyler Melbourne-Smith taking the bronze.
The fastest time of the event once again came in the 19 & over age group, as Loughborough’s Performance Centre and University were vying for the medals amongst some stiff competition. It was the University’s top seed Alex Cohoon who managed to maintain the position he earned in the heats, as City of Sheffield’s Thomas Watkin was less than a tenth of a second behind in the silver medal position. Loughborough Performance Centre man Charlie Brown made a late lunge, dropping a considerable amount of time to gain bronze.
The multi-classification events were back at that stage, as the Women’s 100m Breaststroke saw Barking & Dagenham’s Brock Whiston (S9) win the race on both time and points. Enfield’s Charlotte Hyde was back in contention once again to claim the silver medal, as RTW Monson’s Fern Sneddon - both S6 athletes - did just enough to secure the bronze after British Para-Swimming points were applied.
Once again the men’s event of the same title followed, with the S14 swimmers all providing a quality race for the spectator. Plymouth Leander's Cameron Vearncombe took the race out strong before fading to the adjacent challengers of Dundee’s Jack Milne and City of Glasgow’s Gavin Roberts. It was Milne who took the gold, Roberts the bronze, as Vearncombe still managed to do enough to squeeze into the silver medal position.
The splash and dash of the Women’s 50m Freestyle produced a whole host of close finishes. The 15-year-old final was an example, as Millfield’s Sienna Franklyn-Miller came out on top ahead of a packed fight for the medals. Chase Swimming Club’s Bethan Cooke managed to come off the best of the bunch behind to take silver, as Lisa Barzaghi of Bolton Metro was able to sneak into bronze. Eva Okaro (Sevenoaks) won out with a pacey effort in the 16-year-old final, ahead of Holly Widdows (Mount Kelly) and Libby Broder (City of Cardiff).
The 17-year-old final could have gone anywhere, with Mount Kelly’s Erin Little digging deep for gold to get the better of Guildford’s Darcy Revitt, as she was forced to settle for silver in what appeared to be a close battle for the top spot. The bronze medal was contested by another handful of swimmers up until the final few metres, as Josephine Klein, also of Mount Kelly, took the honour.
The fastest time came in the 18-year-old final, as N & D PP SC’s Harriet Rogers provided a stellar swim to win gold by half-a-second, before the 19 & over final saw Bromley’s Katie Latham win gold by three hundredths of a second ahead of Sutton Cheam’s Amy Davies. It was City of Norwich’s Sacha Thomas who was good enough for bronze, with a whole host of competition closely behind.
The Men’s 400m Individual Medley was the penultimate event of the evening, with the 15-year-old final providing fights for all the medals right the way through to the end. A two-way race between City of Leeds’ Kourosh Khodakhah and Tigers Jersey’s Filip Nowacki made for great viewing; the former managing to use the freestyle leg to pull away from what was a great battle for the spectator to win gold ahead of Nowacki for the silver. A separate battle was had for the bronze, with RTW Monson’s Tom Hawkins earning his place at the finish.
The 16-year-old final was next up, as Edward Marcal Whittles of Chelsea & West put in a textbook performance to take gold. The main drama came in the following positions, with Pershore’s David Annis doing just enough to get his hand on the wall a tenth of a second ahead of City of Sheffield’s Thomas Wilkinson, the former producing a stunning freestyle leg to claim the silver after being over a body length behind at the 300 metre mark, as Wilkinson took bronze.
The fastest time of the event came from Charlie Hutchinson, as the Loughborough University athlete produced a stunning time to hold off a late charge from three University of Stirling swimmers. Angus Allison led the effort to secure silver, with Tony Joe Trett Oliver touching out his club mate for the bronze.
The final event of the day was the Women’s 4x100m Medley Team. The 14/16 year-old final saw an inspired performance from City of Sheffield to take the gold after finishing behind N & D PP SC following the backstroke leg. Charlotte Bianchi clawed the lead back on the breaststroke leg before Eve Doherty led the team home. The battle for silver was fierce between Leah Bowen of Mount Kelly and Evie Dilley of Northumberland & Durham, as the latter managed to do just enough to earn them the silver, with the team from Devon taking the bronze.
The 17 & over final closed the proceedings, with the top three seeds all qualifying within a second of each other. It was anyone’s race at the end of the backstroke leg, before Lily Booker of Loughborough University took a narrow lead ahead of Nova Centurion at the halfway stage. The lead from Loughborough was maintained through Maisie Elliott as Candice Hall of City of Sheffield moved them up into second position. It was then a three-way shootout for the gold with Gaia Alcaras of Aberdeen joining in on the action on the freestyle leg. Charlotte Berry of Sheffield managed to edge in front of Loughborough’s Georgina Daniels to take the gold, with the Scottish club coming in for bronze from the outside lane.
Tickets for spectators are required and can still be purchased here
A live stream of the event will be provided on the British Swimming YouTube Channel, which can be accessed here
Live results and start lists for the event can be accessed here
Full list of winners
Women’s 100m Freestyle
MC – Tully Kearney, City of Manchester Aquatics (European Record)
Women’s 200m Butterfly
13/14 Yrs – Amelie Blocksidge, City of Salford
15 Yrs – Erin Tankard, City of Sheffield
16 Yrs – Ashleigh Baillie, City of Sheffield
17 Yrs – Henrietta D’Ammassa, Repton
18 Yrs – Sophie Freeman, Plymouth Leander
19 Yrs & over – Betsy Wizard, Northampton
Men’s 100m Freestyle
MC – Roan Brennan, Basildon Phoenix
13/14 Yrs – Abduljabar Adama, Mount Kelly (13 year-old British Record)
15 Yrs – Jacob Mills, Leicester Sharks
16 Yrs – George Snow, Portsmouth North Sea
17 Yrs – Reuben Rowbotham-Keating, City of Manchester Aquatics
18 Yrs – Alexander Painter, Millfield
19 Yrs & over – Alex Cohoon, Loughborough University
Women’s 100m Breaststroke
MC – Brock Whiston, Barking & Dagenham
Men’s 100m Breaststroke
MC – Jack Milne, Dundee City Aquatics
Women’s 50m Freestyle
13/14 Yrs – Theodora Taylor, Torfaen Dolphins
15 Yrs – Sienna Franklyn-Miller, Millfield
16 Yrs – Eva Okaro, Sevenoaks
17 Yrs – Erin Little, Mount Kelly
18 Yrs – Harriet Rogers, Northumberland and Durham
19 Yrs & over – Katie Latham, Bromley
Men’s 400m Individual Medley
13/14 Yrs – Llewellyn Porter, Camden Swiss
15 Yrs – Kourosh Khodakhah, City of Leeds
16 Yrs – Edward Marcal Whittles, Chelsea & West
17 Yrs – Reuben Rowbotham-Keating, City of Manchester Aquatics
18 Yrs – Kaden Edwards, City of Cardiff
19 Yrs & over – Charlie Hutchinson, Loughborough University
Women’s 4x100m Medley Team
14/16 Yrs – City of Sheffield
17 & over – City of Sheffield