The 2026 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships kicked off with a bang in London, as swimmers sought places on teams for this summer’s major competitions and James Guy pulled out a memorable 400 freestyle performance that took us back a decade.
The meet is the major part of the selection process for Britain’s European Championship team and the Commonwealth Games teams for England, Wales and Scotland, as outlined in greater detail in our guides to each policy.
A full selection update from Day 1 is available below. Note this is only our interpretation of how the policies will be applied and final selections need to be confirmed by the selectors in due course.
Britain
James Guy stole the headlines with a remarkable 3:44.04 victory in the 400m freestyle, his fastest time since the 2016 Olympic trials and his third fastest ever. Last year he spoke about his confidence he could regain his best in this event and here was the confirmation. That swim confirmed his place on the team for Paris where he’ll be joined by Adam Peaty, who held off the young guns over 100m breaststroke in a welcome sub 59s swim. He was chased home by Filip Nowacki who will follow him to Paris.
There was also a full house of qualifiers in the women’s 200 butterfly, via Keanna MacInnes and Emily Richards and the women’s 4×100 freestyle team made the grade.
England
A strong start to the selection race for England as 9 swimmers put themselves in contention, along with the Women’s 4×100 freestyle team. With a percentage based qualification system in place and only 28 spots available, competition could be fierce for those as the week goes on and it’s quite possible that some of this group will miss out.
That said, the likes of Max Morgan, Lucy Fox and Eva Okaro and Imogen Clark have given themselves a great chance to join Guy, Richards and Peaty in Glasgow having swum well under their respective times.
Scotland
Evie Davis was the surprise package for Scotland, dropping her 100 freestyle PB by 0.7s and dipping under 54s for the first time in 53.99. She was one of 6 Scots to secure individual nomination standards including a full house in the women’s 200m butterfly. The women’s 4×100 freestyle team also made their required time
Scots can set a time in any round of competition, a provision that Archie Goodburn took advantage of over 100 breaststroke. He threw his hat in the ring in the heats and then opted out of the final, perhaps reasoning he has a greater chance of GB selection over 50m and saving himself for that event.
Wales
The Welsh selection process is a little more involved and a full update will be posted after day 2, but Tyler Melbourne-Smith will almost certainly be in Glasgow after a lifetime best in the 400 freestyle saw him under the nomination standard.