The sprint freestyle men took centre stage on the third night of finals in London delivering a sensational showdown over 100m to conclude a successful day of competition that saw a nomination standard met in every Olympic event.

It had been incredibly fast in the heats, with James Guy originally securing 8th spot with a blistering 48.68, before scratching the final. That final was a race for the ages, even if the nerves as everyone strove to win perhaps made it slower than might otherwise have been expected. Matt Richards secured the win in 47.84 but it was close, with Duncan Scott just 0.08s behind and Tom dean a further 0.02 further back in third. Alex Cohoon posted a second lifetime best of the day in 48.20 to snag the 4th spot and round out a successful qualification for the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay.

Meanwhile, Max Litchfield did his best to upstage them in the 400IM, posting a new British Record of 4:09.14 to take 0.04s off Duncan Scott’s 2022 mark. That saw him sail under the nomination standard to make his third Olympic Games.

In the women’s equivalent, Freya Colbert set a lifetime best of 4:34.01 to secure her Paris spot, while Katie Shanahan also set a lifetime best of 4:36.63 to go well under the nomination standard. She would expect to be in Paris off the back of that.

Dan Jervis swam on pace to break the British record over 1500m freestyle for a large part of the race before falling just shy in 14:47.94 but that was more than good enough for a nomination time. He also dragged open water Olympian Toby Robinson to a first sub 15 minute swim with a lifetime best of 14:54.75, which was agonisingly half a second from the nomination time. He may yet get the opportunity to swim it as he’s in Paris anyway.

To complete a full set of nomination times, Anna Hopkin got the job done in the shorter freestyle sprint, posting 24.53 for the 50m and just holding off a maiden voyage inside 25s for Eva Okaro who finished in a lifetime best of 24.96.

As the meet reached halfway there are now 15 swimmers guaranteed selection, although as some of those are via relays the numbers will flex a touch when further individual berths are added. A further 5 runners up have secured a nomination standard, albeit two of those are also in relay quartets, so the team stands at potentially 18 strong.

Paralympic Selection

Scarlett Humphrey set a British Record in the S11 50 freestyle heats and then almost repeated the trick in the finals so secure her nomination standard for Paris as she finished just behind Alice Tai on points. Tai was also inside her required standard. All together 3 swimmers achieved a nomination standard to add to the 12 (shown below in italics) who had done so on the opening two nights.

• Scarlett Humphrey (S11 50m Freestyle)
• Alice Tai (S8 50m Freestyle)
• Stephen Clegg (S12 100m Freestyle)
• Stephen Clegg (S12 100m Backstroke)
• William Ellard (S14 100m Backstroke)
• Mark Tompsett (S14 100m Backstroke)
• Alice Tai (S8 100m Backstroke)
• Poppy Maskill (S14 100m Backstroke)
• Olivia Newman-Baronius (S14 100m Backstroke)
• Megan Neave (S14 100m Backstroke)
• Poppy Maskill (S14 200 Freestyle)
• Louise Fiddes (S14 200 Freestyle)
• Olivia Newman-Burke (S14 200 Freestyle)
• Susanna Hext (S6 200 Freestyle)
• Tully Kearney (S5 200m Freestyle)

In the heats there was also a World Record in the S14 100m freestyle for William Ellard who posted a rapid time of 51.36. That event isn’t offered for him in Paris however.