Ponds Forge was home to some impressive racing on the second night of the British Summer Championships with Andrew Mullen setting a new European record and Tazmin Pugh adding two medals to her growing collection.
Following his success at the recent IPC World Championships with bronze in the S5 50m Butterfly, Mullen continued to show his strength lowering the European record in this morning’s heats. The Ren 96 swimmer then exceeded his own expectations by replicating this success in the evening finals setting a new European record time of 36.56.
A delighted Mullen said: “I didn’t feel great coming into this meet but to have done that time, I’m extremely happy.
“I’ve recently changed a technical aspect of my stroke and I am starting to see the benefit of that now and I’m excited about what I can do with this in the future.
“I’ve got some time off after this meet and then it’s back in to the 2016 season and working hard to put my best foot forward ahead of Rio.”
Northampton’s Eleanor Robinson took gold in the Women’s MC 50m Fly.
Hannah Russell, S12 silver medallist at the IPC World Championships, claimed gold in the Women’s MC 100m Backstroke touching just 0.5 seconds off her own world record.
After the race the Woking swimmer said: “I’m really pleased with that swim. Coming here I just wanted to better my performance at Worlds, both the time and also technically and I think that I improved on both tonight.
“Rio is now coming around really quick and once I come back from my summer break all eyes will be focused on that.
“I’ve had a really good year this year but there is so much more I can do.”
In the MC Men’s 100m Backstroke, local City of Sheffield swimmer James Crisp, S9 silver medallist at the IPC World Championships, won gold.
“I’ve recently changed a technical aspect of my stroke and I am starting to see the benefit of that now and I’m excited about what I can do with this in the future,"
- Andrew Mullen
Aisha Thornton won the 19yrs+ 800m Freestyle ahead of City of Sheffield’s Abbie Houston and Loughborough University teammate Lucinda Campbell.
Pugh, who will represent Team England at the Commonwealth Youth Games next month, showed no sign of tiredness as she won her second gold of the night in the Women’s 15yrs 100m Fly, finishing two seconds ahead of Amy Bell (City of Sheffield) and Anna Fleming (City Glasgow).
In the 19yrs+ age group, gold medallist Alys Thomas (Swansea Aquatics) was the only swimmer to go under the elusive one minute mark while a strong second 50m from Guilford City’s Ellen Thomas saw her move from 10th place at the turn to silver medal position ahead of Bath University’s Tilly Gray.
Carnegie’s Tain Bruce narrowly held on to her early lead in the Women’s 17/18yrs 100m Fly to win gold ahead of City of Cardiff’s Harriet Jones and Hatfield’s Lily West.
It was Warrender Baths' Craig McNally who took gold in the Men’s 19yrs+ 200m Backstroke. Sitting in second place at the half way point, McNally once again showed his skill in the closing stages of the race winning gold ahead of City of Sunderland’s Jonathan Carlisle.
McNally said: “It was a hard race. I came into the meet not knowing if I was going to race the 200m or save if for next week at the US Open but I swam a lot better than I thought I would.
“There are a few things I can now take from that race and work on before I head to the States.”
There was a tight race for third but it was Loughborough University’s Callum Barrett who took bronze.
At the first turn of the Men’s 17/18yrs 200m Backstroke there was nothing separating all ten swimmers but Luke Greenbank (Cockermouth), world junior record holder and gold medallist at the European Games, showed his strength in this event winning gold ahead of Martyn Walton (Hatfield) and Perry Gardner (Middlesborough).
Looking ahead to next month’s World Junior Swimming Championships, Greenbank said: “At the moment World Juniors are my main focus and I’ve been doing a little bit of training at this meet so I’m pleased with that win.
“I really enjoyed my European Games experience and the 200m Backstroke was a really great race so hopefully I can go faster in Singapore.”
There was no room for error in the Men’s 19yrs+ 50m Breaststroke with all finalists within one second of each other. Lawrence Palmer touched first, just edging out Loughborough University’s Andrew Weatheritt and University of Edinburgh’s Euan Inglis.
Charlie Atwood (Taunton Deane SC) led the Men’s 17/18yrs 50m Breaststroke from the start and touched the wall ahead of City of Oxford’s David Murphy and Carnforth’s Joshua Thompson.
“I really enjoyed my European Games experience and the 200m Backstroke was a really great race so hopefully and can go faster in Singapore,"
- Luke Greenbank
In the final 15m of the Women’s 19yrs+ 100m Back, Jaeger Turner (City of Salford) extended her lead to over a second and claimed gold ahead of University of Stirling’s Natasha Hofton and Chelsea and Westminster SC’s Isabelle Hindley.
Bath University’s Jay Lelliot, silver medallist in the 800m Freestyle at the 2015 World University Games, looked comfortable over the first half of the 19yrs+ 200m Freestyle and drew on his long distance stamina to move through the field and win gold. City of Newport’s Cameron Brown finished second while City of Sheffield’s Thomas Sunter touched the wall in third place.
With 25m to go in the Men’s 17/18yrs 200m Freestyle there were five swimmers lying shoulder to shoulder but it was Millfield’s Cameron Kurle who found the strength to push through and touch the wall to win gold ahead of Thomas Atkinson (City of Sheffield) and Kyle Chisholm (Bo Kirklees).
In other events, Callum Smart broke his own British Age Group Record, set in this morning’s heats, to win the 15yrs 50m Breaststroke touching the wall in 30.32.
It was a predictably close race in both the 13/14yrs and 16yrs 50m Breaststroke with Oliver Taverner (Mount Kelly) and Matthew Williams (Torfean Dolphins) taking gold respectively.
Sam Dailley (Plymouth Leander) won his second gold of the Championships in the 13/14yrs 200m Freestyle, breaking the personal best he set in the heats, while in the 15yrs event gold medallist Lewis Burras (Southport) clocked a three second PB.
In the Men’s 16yrs 200m Freestyle, Harrison Coulter had a two second lead at the halfway point but the rest of field put pressure on the Stockport Metro swimmer and only 0.6 seconds separated the gold medallist from Charlie Humphries (Nova Centurion) in second place.
Ciara Schlosshan held off the challenge from the swimmers behind in the final 15m to win gold her second gold of the competition in the Women’s 13/14yrs 100m Fly. Schlosshan’s City of Leeds teammate, Amelia Clynes, also won gold in the 16yrs 100m Fly after qualifying fastest for the final this morning.
It was a tight race for the wall in the closing metres of the Women’s 13/14yrs 100m Backstroke but Nova Centurion’s Lily Boseley edged her way to victory.
Woking’s Anna Maine took gold in the 15yrs 100m Backstroke while Street’s Bethany Newton took victory in the 16yrs 100m Backstroke but they were both challenged all the way and clinched victory on the final touch.
In the Men’s 15yrs 200m Backstroke, Jamie Scholes (City of Peterborough) dropped three seconds off his own lifetime best to take gold, while in the 16yrs 200m Backstroke, James McFadzen (Wycombe District) went out quickly and managed to maintain his lead over the final 25m to claim victory. It was a Plymouth Leander one-two in the 13/14yrs 200m Backstroke, with Oscar Brain taking victory just ahead of teammate Charlie Boden.
There were huge time margins in the Women’s 13/14yrs and 15yrs 800m Freestyle. City of Leeds swimmer Leah Crisp won gold in the 13/14yrs age group in a new lifetime best, 12 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, while Isobel Griffiths (City of Birmingham) took victory with a another impressive margin, finishing with a lead of 10 seconds to take gold in the 15yrs age group.