The 2023 British Championships, which also serve as trials for the world championships, will undoubtedly bring us thrills and spills, and in all likelihood a fair bit of disappointment and drama as events unfold in the Ponds Forge pool.
This year marks a return to the normal rhythm of things with only the one major meet taking place so we can expect everyone to be at the top of their games, something that will be needed if the swimmers are to reach the exacting selection standards set by Chris Spice and Bill Furniss. Amongst that drama here are a few storylines to look for as they play out across the week.
1. Women’s Breaststroke Showdown
There’s a big gap that’s appeared in women’s breaststroke with the retirements of Sarah Vasey and Molly Renshaw and with it comes a great opportunity for someone to grab a spot on the GB team whether individually or via the medley relay. It’s not an easy ask, with the automatic 100m time 0.24s faster than Renshaw’s British record, but there’s all to play for.
Kara Hanlon has firmly set her stall out this year posting 1:06.75 at BUCS to break Kirsty Balfour’s Scottish Record and showing that was no fluke by swimming just a fraction slower at the TYR Pro Series in Fort Lauderdale. With the benefit of a taper she could get close to the GB mark and the consideration time of 1:06.42 could well be achievable.
Chasing her will be Imogen Clark. While best known as a 50m specialist, Clark has gone all in on the 100 since last year’s Commonwealth Games and was already near her best before that, having swum within a few hundredths of her PB several times in the last year. She is coming from further back than Hanlon, but has shown this year that her step up an event hasn’t affected her speed too much so could be a threat in a race that may see her ahead of the field at halfway and trying to hold them off coming home in what promises be an exciting battle.
Over 200m with no Renshaw and with Abbie Wood opting to focus on freestyle and IM at these trials (perhaps with a thought that a spot would remain available in the 200m breaststroke should she want it) it’s wide open. Could this be the moment for Lily Booker to take strides towards the national team? The selection times are both tough and it would need a big drop, from her or Hanlon, to make the grade directly but they could make a case for themselves with an improvement in Sheffield, and Booker at least has the added chance of the European Under 23 championships to fall back on.
2. A Key Return from Injury
With Paris looming in the middle distance (and missing Adam Peaty – more of that anon), the British Swimming hierarchy will hope to be boosted by the return of one of their Tokyo Olympic Champions at these trials.
If she’s close to her best, Britain’s relay hopes will take a big boost with the return of Kathleen Dawson. The Scot missed almost all of the 2022 season with a back injury but has been feeling her way back in to racing over the winter and now joins the battle for places in Fukuoka. At her peak, the QT of 58.95 is well within her sights, but if she is slightly off, the race to the CT of 59.65 could be a real dogfight with Medi Harris and Lauren Cox. The event promises to deliver a terrific race either way, and Harris in particular will feel the automatic time is hers to grab and with it a spot in Fukuoka.
3. The Performance Centre Newbies
An area that potentially is one of the most exciting threads to follow across the meet is the performance of two swimmers who have made changes to their training base and moved into the performance centre system. We know them both well from their exploits in 2021 and 2022, but this is the first time to properly see them in action with their new programmes in place.
Firstly, Freya Colbert, who has swapped Nova Centurion for the Loughborough Performance centre after a 2022 season that saw her win 4 international medals, including 400IM bronze at the European Championships. Already in 2023 she has equalled her 400m freestyle lifetime best so with the benefit of a taper, should be looking to make further strides in that event and in the 400IM. We’ll also see her in the 800m freestyle and intriguingly in the 200m backstroke.
In that event she’ll come up against the second of the two in Katie Shanahan, who moved across from City of Glasgow to the Stirling performance programme. That 200 back has been the highpoint for her this year with a lifetime best of 2:08.08 at BUCS lifting her to 4th all time on the GB rankings and there is a real chance we could see her lift that ranking still further in Sheffield. Is Gemma Spofforth’s British record out of reach? Maybe for these championships, but it’s certainly within the Scot’s capability in due course. Meanwhile her battle with Colbert in the 400IM should be a titanic one with the ladies trading one win each at the Commonwealth Games and European Championships last year, and her showdown with Abbie Wood in the 200IM will require the Loughborough swimmer to be on her mettle if she wants to prevail.
In the cohort ahead of Colbert and Shanahan, Laura Stephens and Keanna MacInnes moved to performance centres at Loughborough and Stirling last year so have had the benefit of extra time in those environments. With them settled into those programmes, now is the time we could see a further step forward. Stephens in particular has looked in fine form so far this year, but has had trouble in the past with consistency. We’ll get indications in Sheffield if this is an area that has been addressed.
4. The Foreign Legion
While most of Britain’s swimmers are based in home waters, there are several with realistic selection aspirations who have sought out foreign climes and who are a bit out of sight out of mind as a consequence.
Two of those are swimmers based in Australia who will want to press their case. The more high profile is 100m freestyle British Record Holder Lewis Burras who now trains in Western Australia with coach Zoe Baker. Recently we’ve only seen him at a couple of low key meets and the NSW Championships where’s he’d been as fast as 49.4, before he dropped a 48.71 in the Sheffield Premier Open meet heats last week, and he’s the fastest seed in a 100m that promises fireworks, and will renew his rivalry with world champion Ben Proud over 50m. His British Record in the longer event must be under threat given the wave building in that event.
The second returnee from Australia is Cameron Kurle who left Stirling to team up with Ben Higson, also once of Stirling, at the Western Australia Institute of Sport. As with Burras he has swum a couple of low key meets which have included a 1:48.98 200 free at the Western Australia championships just before Christmas. Kurle has flirted around the edges of the 4×200 relay and will no doubt be hoping his shift of base can force him into the reckoning for that squad.
5. The Relay Conundrum
Relays have been the bedrock of Britain’s medal success over the past nine years, delivering 13 world and Olympic medals over that period, so it’s clear that having strong quartets in Fukuoka will be a priority.
A more coherent relay strategy was one of the recommendations that came out of the post-London 2012 review and while the quality of the available swimmers clearly helps, the importance placed on them has been a factor in those medals. One only has to look at James Guy being hoicked out of the individual 100 fly in Tokyo to focus on the mixed medley relay to see how seriously they are being taken, with plenty of effort being applied to building depth as Bella Hindley told the pullbuoy podcast.
All of which makes it even more strange that the times set for qualification are quite as stringent as they are, especially as Olympic qualification is available in Fukuoka. Based on results from 2022, the top 4 times for each event would see the men’s teams all make the grade, but all of the women’s teams and the mixed medley fall short.
| Event | CT | 2022 Time |
|---|---|---|
| Women | ||
| 4×100 Freestyle | 03:34.91 | 03:37.10 |
| 4×200 Freestyle | 07:49.00 | 07:50.58 |
| 4×100 Medley | 03:55.96 | 03:58.36 |
| Men | ||
| 4×100 Freestyle | 03:13.04 | 03:11.92 |
| 4×200 Freestyle | 07:07.40 | 07:03.50 |
| 4×100 Medley | 03:31.50 | 03:31.42 |
| Mixed | ||
| 4×100 Medley | 03:42.04 | 03:42.65 |
The men’s freestyle relays should be safe and the battles, which will be well worth watching in both the 100 and 200m events, will be to get one of the spaces. In the 100 you could realistically perm almost any 4 from Lewis Burras, Tom Dean, Jacob Whittle, Duncan Scott, Matt Richards and Ed Mildred to get a qualifying quartet in an event that shows massive potential.
In the 200m, Scott and Dean will be favourites for individual spots but any of Richards, James Guy, Whittle, Joe Litchfield and newly available Jack McMillan will fancy a relay spot with Cam Kurle lurking as well. That event looks set to provide the blockbuster curtain closer to the championships once again.
The medley relay for men and mixed will be weakened without Adam Peaty, so both will likely be touch and go for qualification in a story that will reveal itself as the week goes on and we see the individual 100m results. Each winner will need to play their parts to guarantee those teams a place, although it seems more than likely that teams will go for these ones.
On the women’s side, it’s the depth that will need to show itself if the relays are to qualify, with all of them except surprisingly the 4×200 well off the required mark based on last year’s times, but a good showing from the top finishers could yet make the difference. The freestyle teams are maybe in more jeopardy with the selectors if they aren’t seen as Olympic targets.
It’s quite possible that the relays are where we will see the discretionary picks available to the selectors go, either to make up teams, or to provide additional relay cover.
6. The Medley Boys
Tom Dean and Duncan Scott will renew their rivalry once more in the 200IM. Scott took bragging rights twice last year at British Championships and Commonwealth Games, but his season was curtailed by injury and we’ve not seen him race properly as yet in 2023. Reportedly he has been swimming more volume than in the past and hence a taper may reap greater rewards.
It might need to if Dean continues his development in this event – he has the breaststroke to hurt Scott, but needs to minimise any losses on the backstroke leg. It could be a to-and-fro tussle for this one with the result taken to the wall.
Those not on the blocks
While not a storyline to watch as such, it still has a bearing on the outcomes in Sheffield, with many swimmers we might have expected to see missing from the start lists.
Chiefly amongst those, of course, is Adam Peaty who dropped an 11th hour withdrawal citing his mental health and the need to reset what he said might be termed burnout ahead of an Olympic tilt for 2024. Peaty’s early season performances hadn’t set the pool alight, and these issues are probably the reason why. Hopefully we’ll see him back at his best next year.
But while he’s the most high profile, he’s not the only absentee.
One swimmer who won’t be returning from overseas to compete is Mason Wilby. Having made his international debut for England at last year’s Commonwealth Games before adding GB representation at the European Championships, Wilby announced his retirement from swimming at the end of the recent NCAA championships where he’d been captaining the University of Kentucky team.
Another US based swimmer skipping this year is Alicia Wilson. The 2021 Olympian sat out the collegiate season at Cal and will transfer to Texas for the run in to Paris. Meanwhile Tamryn Van Selm, now at North Carolina State is also skipping these championships.
There’s no Cassie Wild on the programme either. The Scot relocated to Australia to train with Minna Atherton after last year’s Commonwealth Games, but is not swimming in Sheffield. Similarly Kayla Van Der Merwe, now based in Western Australia, and who might have contested for the U23 team, if not worlds is also absent.
Banner Image: Georgie Kerr/British Swimming