When Ollie Morgan touched the wall in the 100m Backstroke at the British Championships last week he had smashed the British Record and his time of 52.12 had elevated him to becoming the 13th fastest man all time. It was a swim that rightly took all the plaudits but behind him there was a wave coming, one that speaks to an increasing depth in British men’s backstroke.
Let’s rewind for a moment to the last British man to crack 53 seconds, Chris Walker-Hebborn. He took the 2015 British title in the same London pool in 52.88, a winning time that wasn’t bettered until last year when Morgan set his first British Record.
The Birmingham swimmer’s continued excellence has of course driven the winning times to new heights over the past two years but what is happening behind him is just as interesting. After all, in London the top 6 men home were all under 54s with Luke Greenbank the last of those in 53.76. He was quick to see the significance.
“It’s not just Ollie, six lads went 53 in that 100 back” he said, shortly after just failing to catch Morgan in the 200m backstroke final. “I won it a few years ago in a 54.5 or something, so it really shows that they’re coming through, and they’re challenging me, and really challenging each other, and that’s only going to move British backstroke forwards.”
Nowhere is this borne out more than the time it took to finish 6th. That’s plummeted in recent years, following almost the same improvement curve as Morgan from 55.2 in 2019 to Greenbank’s 53.76 this year.
Morgan also noticed this trend and like Greenbank acknowledged the role of the competition in pushing him on.
“Credit to the lads, they’re pushing me all the way” he said after that record breaking swim. “The pressure was really on in that race and this morning, Matt [Ward] did a PB by I think 0.6, so it shows the work that they’re putting in
“We’ve got me going 52 low now, but it’s going to push all those other boys on. We didn’t even have a 53 point for quite a while, Luke was the only one that was able to do that so it’s really exciting to have those swimmers behind me pushing me all the way.”
As for Greenbank, now the elder statesman of the group, he’s in no hurry to step away from the sport even if this excellence pushes him more towards his preferred 200m event.
“I still enjoy it, that’s all it comes down to at the end of the day” he said. “I like the training and I really enjoy training with Dave [Hemmings, his new coach at Loughborough], it’s a new stimulus, new environment, new training group, and that really helped that kind of freshness.”
He remains though driven in part by his Paris disqualification.
“Last year didn’t go the way I wanted to, I felt like I could have been challenging for medals on that 200 back, I felt in really good shape, but it just wasn’t to be, unfortunately.
“I still feel fit, I still feel like I’m competitive. I know when I’m at my best I can still challenge the medals on a world stage and I still want to go faster; I want to go to the Olympics in four years’ time and go 53, 1:53, maybe even faster. I know I’ve got a long way to go, but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I could do it.”
With the development of the discipline though, he might find it as hard to make the British team in future let alone contend for the podium places but that competition may yet prove decisive. “I’ve still got that fire in me, I still want to keep going, and these lads here, they’re pushing me every step of the way.”