British Swimming Championships 2024

[Rafa Maciel 1,672]

1 hour ago, Epic Failure said:

I'd be surprised if they take more than 30. Whatever the rights and wrongs, British Swimming (or Aquatics GB as I suppose we should now call them lol) have been cutthroat. They want to take medal contenders and not much else. With the selection criteria the way that it is, it would have to take some truly outstanding performances from unexpected sources to change their mind.

I think the team limit was fine when GB probably didn't have all that many individual swimmers who were likely to make global finals, but the British squad has come on a huge amount in the last couple of Olympic cycles. 

 

Where I begin to have a problem with the team limit concept is if swimmers meet the British Selection Time but are not selected because of the limit. Bearing in mind that the BST is basically the time that was needed to reach the final at '23 World Champs then by not taking a swimmer that achieves the BST this week, we run the risk of leaving a potential Olympic finalist at home.   

 

The performances from this morning give cause for optimism that we could see quite a few PBs over the course of the week so I think there's every chance that the selectors are going to have plenty to think about in terms of the squad they take forward. 

[Orangehair43 285]

It could get very messy and of course there is the chance of swimmers going public and we know the press will give a platform to selection complaints. 
 

Through is there anyone actually likely to get a Time and an empty spot and not be taken?  Particularly in no capacity whatsoever? 

Edited April 2, 2024 by Orangehair43

[RussB 189]

5 hours ago, Epic Failure said:

Also, to try and answer some questions raised earlier in the thread - Amelie Blocksidge has not only the Olympics in mind but presumably also the Euro Jnrs. Presumably the 1500m tomorrow will be the main focus but getting solid times in the other events for the Jnrs is sensible planning as a fall back plan if the Olympic plan doesn't work out. She would likely be on the 4x200m team there, so that would explain why she did that event today.

 

And I have no inside knowledge, but I would be amazed if they didn't take Anderson if she is close to being fit in the summer. Even if it ends up only being as a relay swimmer. And depending what happens this week, there may still be a place in both the 100m/200m free if nobody else beats the time. We'll see.

This is a fair point on Euro Jnrs - to me i'm still surprised that she isn't going into the 1500m as fresh as absolutely possible as that is her main chance to make the Olympics. We have ruminated above that UK Aquatics might not take her even if she goes sub 16m 10, and that will really sting if the 200m races today take a little bit out of her. If the 200m was at the end of the week then I'd understand her swimming it more.

[Rafa Maciel 1,672]

Got to say that I am quite impressed by the staging of the event so far - it seems pretty slick (except for the broken lane rope this morning. There's a fair sized crowd creating a decent atmosphere and the pool seems to be fast given the number of PBs we've had so far.

 

[RussB 189]

4 minutes ago, Rafa Maciel said:

Got to say that I am quite impressed by the staging of the event so far - it seems pretty slick (except for the broken lane rope this morning. There's a fair sized crowd creating a decent atmosphere and the pool seems to be fast given the number of PBs we've had so far.

 

A number of the evening sessions are sold out which is really positive, alongside the TV pick ups from BBC and C4.

[RussB 189]

Poor Kieran. 0.21 secs off a consideration time of 3m 45 just feels insanely tough that he won't even be considered under the discretion criteria?

[Cinnamon Bun 911]

Kieran Bird misses out by 0.21, extremely harsh on him given how well he swam there. If it was any other year they'd strongly consider taking him anyway, but with so many athletes looking likely to overwhelm the 30 athlete limit I'm not sure they'll even consider him. 

Edited April 2, 2024 by Cinnamon Bun

[Orangehair43 285]

2 minutes ago, RussB said:

Poor Kieran. 0.21 secs off a consideration time of 3m 45 just feels insanely tough that he won't even be considered under the discretion criteria?

0.0% chance, 

[Orangehair43 285]

1 minute ago, Cinnamon Bun said:

Kieran Bird misses out by 0.21, extremely harsh on him given how well he swam there. If it was any other year they'd strongly consider taking him anyway, but with so many athletes looking likely to overwhelm the 30 athlete limit I'm not sure they'll even consider him. 

Cases like this will be why some will leave the GB system and move elsewhere. 

[Cinnamon Bun 911]

2 minutes ago, RussB said:

Poor Kieran. 0.21 secs off a consideration time of 3m 45 just feels insanely tough that he won't even be considered under the discretion criteria?

If we're still under the 30 athlete limit and if the selectors consider him an asset for the 4x200 then they might still consider him given how close he was but it's unlikely either will be the case. It's especially harsh on the distance swimmers to miss out on that much as that's effectively 2 or 3 quicker turns at the wall.