British Swimming Championships 2024 Road to Paris 2024

[Rafa Maciel 1,259]

The provisional entry lists for next month's British Champs/Olympic trials have been released. 

 

BS Championships (swimmingresults.org)

 

Haven't gone through the whole file yet, but interesting to see Amelie Blocksidge going in 5 events - 200, 400, 800 & 1500 Free and 400IM. I'd like to see her getting the standard in the long distance events but I wonder whether going in so many events will reduce her chances of getting the qualifying standard in any of them. 

[RussB 40]

I must admit I have no idea why she is being entered into the 200m and 400m free - doesn’t make sense.

 

To make those times (especially the 800m from where she is) would require her to be as fully rested as possible.

 

maybe she doesn’t line up in all of them or her team is super confident on her getting the 1500m time?! Can’t work it out.

 

Freya Colbert not doing the 200m back was notable to me. Dean and Scott against each other in all 3 events should also be fun (100m 200m free 200m IM).

I also noted Matt Richards is entered into the 50m alongside his main 2 events (no 100m fly) which slightly surprised me.

[TeamGB 71]

One can assume she is trying to get as much race practice as possible in large meets, The schedule for these events isn't too bad. 200m free Day 1, 1500m free Day 2, 400m IM Day 3, 400m Free Day 4, 800m Day 6. She would only race once in the 800m and 1500m in the evening session. My guess is she swims the 200m free as a test as where she is at, before changing her schedule based on the 1500m.

 

Freya not swimming the 200m back doesn't surprise me. She said in a podcast that she based her race last year off Katie's last year and wasn't really sure what she was doing. It would have been hard to make the team anyway with Osrin, Shanahan and Harris all competing.

 

Come Paris, Matt Richards would have a big schedule if he qualifies for 50m free with all the relays he will likely be doing, so I guess it would have always been a matter of picking the 50m free or 100m fly.

 

Overall, I'm really looking forward to trials and seeing what the swimmers can do.

 

If James Guy can improve his 200m then the relay world record looks increasingly likely to go.

Angharad Evans in the 100m breast could be important for the medley relay.

Jacob Peters really impressed me at SC Euros last year, so I'm hoping he can break 51 at trials, same with Ollie Morgan (53 in the 100m back)

[RussB 40]

9 minutes ago, TeamGB said:

One can assume she is trying to get as much race practice as possible in large meets, The schedule for these events isn't too bad. 200m free Day 1, 1500m free Day 2, 400m IM Day 3, 400m Free Day 4, 800m Day 6. She would only race once in the 800m and 1500m in the evening session. My guess is she swims the 200m free as a test as where she is at, before changing her schedule based on the 1500m.

 

Freya not swimming the 200m back doesn't surprise me. She said in a podcast that she based her race last year off Katie's last year and wasn't really sure what she was doing. It would have been hard to make the team anyway with Osrin, Shanahan and Harris all competing.

 

Come Paris, Matt Richards would have a big schedule if he qualifies for 50m free with all the relays he will likely be doing, so I guess it would have always been a matter of picking the 50m free or 100m fly.

 

Overall, I'm really looking forward to trials and seeing what the swimmers can do.

 

If James Guy can improve his 200m then the relay world record looks increasingly likely to go.

Angharad Evans in the 100m breast could be important for the medley relay.

Jacob Peters really impressed me at SC Euros last year, so I'm hoping he can break 51 at trials, same with Ollie Morgan (53 in the 100m back)

I’m very interested to see if Jonny Marshall can push Ollie Morgan. He has to come straight off the NCAAs (and yards) but he has been so quick over short course recently that it’s not impossible he drops a big chunk off his PB 54.3 in long course. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,259]

Not sure how many of these I'll be able to get through before the event kicks off (the swimmingresults.org site restricts how many data searches you can do) but thought I'd take a look at some of the events where there is a question mark around whether we'll get a qualifier for Paris. 

 

Women's 1500m Freestyle

 

 

There are 50 athletes entered into the event and those featured in the table are the top-8 swimmers based on their entry times - so this will probably be the line-up for the "fastest heat" final. The 1500m is the only long-distance event where the top athletes have outperformed their 2023 SB already in 2024. 

 

All eyes will be on Blocksidge who managed to get within 1 second of the OQT earlier this year but will need to find an additional 8 seconds to meet British Swimming's standard. She's already swam 9 seconds faster than the best she achieved last year so with a bit of luck; she'll be able to carry that PB form into the competition. Gut instinct at the moment says she'll get the OQT but might come up just short of the BST. 

 

Quick word on Amber Keegan - she obviously missed out on the open water quota so if she wants to go to Paris, she is going to need to get there via the pool, but she would need a big step forward for that to happen in this event.

[RussB 40]

As I've consistently said on the swimming threads, I'm bullish on Amelie's prospects. I think she gets the BST in the 1500m (800m is perhaps a bridge too far with her schedule planned though), and makes the final in Paris.

She has been noticeably absent in the last couple of weeks from the events where Salford has had representation (e.g. Manchester International), whereas her 16m 10 was set in the middle of regular swim meets so assuming this time was set in the middle of a heavy training block, a taper should set her up for something special in London. It would be another benefit if Fleur can push her; I'd be pleasantly surprised if that happens and is possible on account of Fleur's wonderful short course season but not sure she can knock 20 seconds off her PB to push Amelie.

 

I wonder how close Amelie has to get to the BST before she gets taken to Paris given the future she has ahead of her, and her rate of progression meaning that by the time end of July rolls round she may have improved by a few more seconds!

[Rafa Maciel 1,259]

Women's 800m Freestyle:

 

 

As with the 1500m, the 800m will operate a fastest heat final so based on their entry times, these should be the finalists. In contrast to the 1500m, nobody has improved on their 2023 times so far this year. Blocksidge would need to shave about 9 seconds off her 2024 times - roughly a 7 second PB. That will be challenging but not impossible.

 

Behind her, the rest of the field don't look likely to challenge the qualifying times - they'd all need to swim at least 15 seconds quicker than they have in 2024 so far.  

[Orangehair43 177]

11 hours ago, RussB said:

As I've consistently said on the swimming threads, I'm bullish on Amelie's prospects. I think she gets the BST in the 1500m (800m is perhaps a bridge too far with her schedule planned though), and makes the final in Paris.

She has been noticeably absent in the last couple of weeks from the events where Salford has had representation (e.g. Manchester International), whereas her 16m 10 was set in the middle of regular swim meets so assuming this time was set in the middle of a heavy training block, a taper should set her up for something special in London. It would be another benefit if Fleur can push her; I'd be pleasantly surprised if that happens and is possible on account of Fleur's wonderful short course season but not sure she can knock 20 seconds off her PB to push Amelie.

 

I wonder how close Amelie has to get to the BST before she gets taken to Paris given the future she has ahead of her, and her rate of progression meaning that by the time end of July rolls round she may have improved by a few more seconds!

I think to prevent disputes she will have to reach the BST rather than being just outside. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,259]

Women's 400m Freestyle:

 

 

For me, this is another event where there is no obvious swimmer who is a candidate to hit the BST of 4:04.98 although with Crisp and Blocksidge, we've got 2 athletes whose personal bests are within about 8 seconds of the standard - so not dissimilar to what we are hoping Blocksidge can achieve in the 1500 & 800m. 

 

Best guess at the moment is that both Glenister and Blocksidge will dip below 4:10.00 but will come up short of the BST. Will be interesting to see if Slevin and Stott could also challenge their PBs. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,259]

Women's 200m Freestyle & 4x200 Relay:

 

 

Both Anderson and Colbert have the BST from last year. Colbert also achieved the OQT from earlier this year. I don't have a record of Anderson having competed so far in 2024 - but I am not aware of any injury issue that would indicate there is any kind of problem.

 

I therefore expect both Anderson and Colbert to get the standard and earn selection for Paris. 

 

The times for the top 4 finishers in the final will determine the relay quota with the required standard being 7:51.89. Assuming there's no major surprises, we should be able to hit that fairly easily. Taking the 2024 season's best for Colbert, Wood and Harris along with the 2023 mark for Anderson would produce a time of 7:49.79 but ideally, it would be good to see Wood, Harris and Hope getting into the low-mid 1:57s.