Medi Harris (Swim Wales High Performance Centre) and Oliver Morgan (University of Birmingham) took gold in a Women’s and Men’s 100m Backstroke double header that provided two of the highlight races on the second day of British Swimming Championships action.
Having got up onto the lane rope to celebrate his 50m triumph 24 hours earlier, Morgan was again fist pumping the air after the narrowest of wins in the men's event.
Bath Performance Centre's Cameron Brooker was the leading man for much of the contest, delivering a sharp first length of the pool and charging out of the turn in first. However, Morgan’s sprinting pace brought the pair level as they came under the flags and his dive for the wall was a fractional two hundredths better than Brooker's. Luke Greenback (Loughborough Performance Centre) added to his medal collection with bronze ahead of his favoured 200m distance event on Sunday.
There was no full repeat of Tuesday's big celebration for Morgan - but there were still plenty of reasons for him to be happy at the 50m-100m Backstroke double.
"I was way too tired for getting on the lane rope tonight, but I'm really pleased with that!" he said.
"The pressure was definitely on for that one - that's the one I wanted to do well in. I think heats-wise, I knew it was going to be quick to get in there [central lanes], but I wanted to get out there and make a statement, show them what's there and hopefully try to build on it. I would've liked to have been a bit quicker, but I'm happy with that."
In the preceding women's event, a blistering start from European medallist Harris saw her record the only sub-29-second opening 50m, and the Adam Baker-coached swimmer emptied her energy tank on the return leg, holding firm for the victory despite Lauren Cox of Loughborough University’s best efforts to claw back into the lead. Olympic gold medallist Kathleen Dawson (University of Stirling) also progressed on her morning’s qualifying time to follow the pair in closely for bronze as she bids to build back to her best.
"I definitely found it tough to come back down the back 50m, but going out hard was what I've been working on in training. Hopefully towards the end of the summer, my back end will come better with it," said Harris after the contest.
"I know that I expect a lot from myself, so I just go and concentrate on what I love doing and enjoy the race more than anything. Paris is the main aim for me, but obviously I'd love to go to Worlds to gain more experience and to build better towards Paris."
One of the surprise packages of the night came in the Men’s 200m Butterfly as Bath University’s Joshua Gammon stunned the field with a three-second personal best from lane seven. Having shared a portion of the lead with fastest qualifier Thomas Beeley (University of Aberdeen), over the opening stages, Gammon found himself with an edge on his rival at the final turn.
Ultimately a mere 0.11-second margin separated the two as Gammon secured the top step of the podium, whilst Reuben Rowbotham-Keating (City of Manchester Aquatics) came in for bronze across the pool in lane one.
Gammon hopes there is more to come during the rest of the meet. Commenting on his first British title, he said: "It was a bit unexpected, but I just cleaned it up a little bit, sorted my technique out my turns and other little things and it paid off which is brilliant.
"The 200m Fly is just the start for me, I’ve got the 100m and 50m Fly coming up so it’s nice to get that big one out of the way and then focus on the shorter sprint races."
Further nail-biting drama came in the concluding final of the night as Gillian Kay Davey (Loughborough University) and Kara Hanlon (Edinburgh University) burst to the fore down the last 50m of the Women’s 200m Breaststroke. The opening 150m exchange was controlled by Lily Booker, just as the Loughborough Performance Centre swimmer had done so in the heats. However, Davey and Hanlon found an extra gear to steal ahead and go stroke for stroke to the close as Davey edged in for a maiden British title by a five-hundredth-of-a-second margin. Hanlon took silver, with Booker picking up bronze.
The evening session opened with the fastest seeded heat of the Women’s 800m Freestyle, and Freya Colbert (Loughborough Performance Centre) lived up to her status as the favourite with her entry time set at last month’s Edinburgh International meet placing her in lane four. The Dave Hemmings coached-swimmer moved away from the field in a controlled manner, swimming solo out in front to claim her second British title in as many days.
The race behind her saw 13-year-old Amelie Blocksidge (City of Salford) battle out with Fleur Lewis (Loughbrough University) for the remaining podium places, with Blocksidge making her move to pass shortly after the 400m mark and pacing herself in for a stunning silver, going inside her own British age-group record in the process.
Commenting of the comparative challenges to her opening event, Colbert said: “I think it’s very different. With the 400m Individual Medley there’s so much lactate and then with this it’s more of a mental battle. I’m still trying to get my head around it and get my pacing right - it definitely didn’t hurt as much at the end.
“It was a nice PB [tonight] but one of my main reasons for taking on the 800m is that mental battle and getting my head around it. When I do the 800m it gives me confidence for my 400m free - I look at other people around the world like Titmus and Ledecky, they’re all so strong on the 800m as well, so it’s about being strong on that double distance to give myself that confidence and the extra push on the 400m”
The Men’s 50m Breaststroke meanwhile brought a maiden senior British gold for Archie Goodburn. The Edinburgh University man’s starting underwater saw him break out up into his stroke in the lead and he maintained a high turnover down the length to hold off the closing challenge of Loughborough Performance Centre pair James Wilby and Greg Butler - producing a reshuffle of Tuesday night’s 100m podium, Wilby finishing in silver and Butler bronze.
"I'm really happy with the way this week has gone, I'm having a great time racing those boys in there. The 100m last night was a great race between the three of us. I'm slightly disappointed not to progress that swim in the finals tonight, but I'm just having a great time racing here." said Goodburn.
"It's a shame not to have Adam Peaty in the mix, but we still have Wilby here who's a world-class breaststroker, showing how it's done and keeping us chasing, let me tell you that! It's just great having bigger guys in the sport like that to look up to."
Further sprinting action came in the subsequent Women’s 50m Butterfly event, as Sophie Yendell (Derventio Excel) edged out the 2022 champion Harriet Jones (City of Cardiff) in the race to get hands to the wall first down the single length shootout, as both improved their times from heats to final. University of Stirling’s Lucy Grieve nipped in for the bronze from an outside lane to round out the podium.
Understandably delighted, Yendell was looking forward to carrying the ‘fun’ she was experiencing further into the meet.
“I’m just trying to have fun with it. I haven’t raced a lot of long course this season so I’m just enjoying the racing – the 50m Butterfly is my favourite race and always has been. I’ve got the 50m Freestyle tomorrow which is quite similar, so I’m really looking forward to that race and seeing what I can do," she said.
For the full results, as well as information about the coming days, check out our “What’s On?” page.