British Champs Wrap Up

The rush and excitement of the 2022 British Swimming Championships has come to an end.  The 6-day competition at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre played host to Olympic superstars and budding international-level debutants, including many of our own F-Teamers.

Eighteen year old Nova Centurion swimmer Freya Colbert was a standout at this year's British Championships. She claimed her first national title with a 2 second PB in the 400m IM with a time of 4:41.27. Freya had been sitting on 4:43.00 for some time so she was excited to have swum a PB at such an important meet. She went on to achieve the World Championships consideration time for Team England in the 400m Freestyle, where she swam a massive lifetime best to record 4:09.04 to win silver. Hungry for more, Freya also achieved the consideration time in the 200m Freestyle with a 1:57.90, winning bronze.

Imogen Clark kickstarted the meet with a bang, winning the 50m Breaststroke in a time of 30.10 on day 1, beating her competition by nearly a full second. It was her second fastest ever time, just shy of her British Record swim of 30.04, and within the Commonwealth Games consideration time for Team England. She also backed up on day 6 to win bronze in the 100m Breaststroke.

Katie Shanahan won her first British Champs title in the 200m Backstroke swimming under the Commonwealth Games consideration time for Team Scotland. Honey Osrin followed closely behind Katie, claiming the bronze. Katie also finished on the podium in the 400m IM (under the Scottish Commonwealth consideration time) and in the 200m IM, winning bronze in both.

Long distance swimmer Leah Crisp was able to hold off a tough field in the 800m Freestyle to win gold in a time of 8:45.98 and followed up her national title with a third place finish in the 1500m Freestyle on the last day of competition.

Other notable results from our F-Teamers:

• Mia Slevin: Bronze 400m Freestyle

• Georgie Pryor: Bronze 50m Butterfly, finals in the 100m Backstroke and 100m Butterfly

• Chloe Golding: 4th in the 100m and 200m Backstroke

• Charlotte Evans: winner of the B final in the 100m Backstroke

• Katie Goodburn: winner of the B final in the 100m Breaststroke

• Sophie Freeman: winner of the B final in the 200m Butterfly

The meet played a role in the process for qualification onto the Budapest World Championships team and other international teams, with announcements still to come. Keep up to date with team selections via our socials @funkitaswimwear and @funkita_uk.