Freya Colbert and Poppy Maskill produced outstanding Women's 200m Freestyle triumphs to round out the opening night of action at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in London.
Three-time Paralympic champion Maskill surged back down the final 50m of a thrilling race against fellow S14 competitors Louise Fiddes, Olivia Newman-Baronius and Georgia Sheffield in the multi-classification para-swimming final to get the touch over Fiddes by a dramatic 0.05s, dipping inside the 2:08.55 World Championship qualifying time in the process - with Fiddes doing the same. Newman-Baronius took bronze.
Moments later, Colbert paced her open final swim to perfection, moving steadily clear of the field to clock a new personal best of 1:55.76 - just outside Joanne Jackson's 16-year-old British record, but well inside the time that confirms Freya's spot on the team bound for July's World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
Behind her, Leah Schlosshan claimed silver, Abbie Wood bronze and Lucy Hope was fourth, their combined times booking them all a Singapore ticket as part of the Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay - meaning a first Worlds qualification for Schlosshan.
"I'm really pleased with that swim, it's always nice to swim a personal best. I did have my sights set on the British record, I'm now 0.2 seconds off - I knew it was going to be quite a big jump. My coach Dave [Hemmings] always says that every step forwards is a harder step than the one before as I get closer to my potential, so just to have a step forwards is promising off the back of an Olympic year," said Freya.
"I was actually a bit nervous, I haven't done a big competition like this since the Games, I've taken a bit of a step back and raced a bit more domestically, so yeah, I'm really pleased to come back to such a major event and get a PB."
On her victory, Maskill said: "I was really happy with that. It was kind of hard because I had noone on one side of me, but I could see Louise [Fiddes] and I really wanted it so I was telling myself 'you've got this' and stuck with her."
The Women's 200m Butterfly also served up a couple of showcase moments on day one in the capital - with two world records and another precious World Championship qualification time.
For the second consecutive year, Keanna MacInnes became the first swimmer to secure a place on the major senior team as she set a new personal best of 2:07.14 on the way to the British title.
The contest played out intriguingly across the centre lanes, with Emily Richards and Laura Stephens both threatening - but ultimately, Keanna's pacing saw her to the wall for a comprehensive win, ahead of Richards in silver and Stephens in bronze.
"I was really shocked with that one, I knew I’d be close to my best time but did not expect that! It is really positive, I didn't know how that race would go, the other two girls are super strong and it’s really hard to tell after the heats. It’s looking good [for the week]," said MacInnes.
Away from the podium placings, Faye Rogers delivered two of the swims of the day, twice shattering her own world record for the S10 classification in the Women's 200m Butterfly.
After clocking an eye-catching 2:18.93 in the morning heats to qualify for the Olympic swimming B final, she dropped more time again to touch in 2:18.48, a new world-best mark and setting her in a great place for the multi-classification 100m Butterfly later in the week, an event in which she is a Paralympic champion.
"Honestly, it’s incredible, I did not expect that at all in the final! I came out the heats thinking, 'how on earth am I going to quicker tonight?', which is a good thing, because it means I did a solid swim this morning. Like I said this morning, I didn’t expect that time so do it do it twice is a bit crazy," she said.
In the Men's 100m Breaststroke, Greg Butler claimed his first gold in this event after yet another close race on the night, with former training partner Adam Peaty watching on from the commentary box in the live BBC Sport and YouTube broadcast. Teenage duo Max Morgan (silver) and Filip Nowacki (bronze) rounded out the podium, as the next generation looks to build on the legacies of Peaty and James Wilby from the past decade and more.
"It feels really good. It's been a long time that I've been trying to get under 60 seconds, so to finally do it here, I'm really happy about it. I'm getting on really well with Dave and Scott [Goadby] in Loughborough, it's going well. I've been doing a lot of work on my dive, some technical points, and just thinking through the process," said Greg.
S14 athlete Harry Stewart picked up enough points to get the better of S6 competitor Bruce Dee in the multi-classification 100m Breaststroke.
Elsewhere on the night, James Guy triumphed in his return to the Men's 400m Freestyle final at an Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, taking the race out hard over the opening 300m and holding on to take his first British title in this event since 2017, ahead of Tyler Melbourne-Smith for silver and Jack McMillan - an Olympic champion alongside Guy in the Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay last summer - taking bronze. Tomas Navarro-Barber won the multi-classification contest on 783 points, just ahead of Bjorn-Sebastian Aaen on 767 and Kieran Williams on 759.
Kara Hanlon and Ellie Challis were crowned the first British champions of the week in the Women's 50m Breaststroke events. Kara got the better of Edinburgh University teammate Anna Morgan to reach the wall in the sprint event and claim the gold, while Challis began her programme for the meet by dropping good time from heats to final in the multi-classification final.
Full results from the opening day of the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships are here.