Seven of City’s top swimmers qualified to compete at the British Swimming Championships held in Glasgow’s Tolcross pool last weekend.  The elite event served as the sole qualifying event for the 2016 Rio Olympics as well as being a platform for Britain’s young and emerging talent to catch the eye of the European Junior selectors.  The morning heats allowed swimmers to qualify for one of three finals, the junior final for boys 18 years and under (age at end of year) and girls 17 years and under; the target Tokyo final for athletes who did not make the cut for the open final but show potential for the 2020 Olympics; and the open final consisting of the top eight qualifiers in each event used exclusively to select athletes for the 2016 Olympic team.

City’s breaststrokers once again stole the show with an outstanding display of skill and talent.  David Murphy, 17 years, qualified for the target Tokyo final in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke events.  Murphy finished 3^rd in the 100m breaststroke final in a South East Regional record of 1.02.76 and as top swimmer 18 years and under, putting him in a strong position for selection for the European Junior Championship squad, which British Swimming will announce on 29^th April.   Murphy finished 7^th in the 200m breaststroke final in 2.17.36 taking brother Alex Murphy’s Oxon and North Bucks Open County record.

Callum Smart and Conor Bryan, 15 years, also had a successful championship with both breaststrokers qualifying for the 100m and 200m junior breaststroke finals. In a hotly contested 100m final Smart edged ahead of Bryan in the final few strokes to take 3^rd in 1.05.08 and Bryan 4^th, 1.05.12.  As a Welsh swimmer Bryan’s time was a Welsh age group record for the event.  Smart finished 3^rd in the 200m junior final in a South East regional and Oxon and North Bucks Junior County record time of 2.20.08 with Bryan taking 8^th place in a Welsh age group record time of 2.24.41.

City’s female breaststroker Emily Wood, 17 years, qualified for the target Tokyo 200m breaststroke final taking 6^th place in 2.33.23 and the junior 100m breaststroke final coming 7^th in 1.12.75.

Fabian Whitbread (400m and 200m individual medley), Luke Thomas (400m individual medley) and Emily Nisbet (200m butterfly) also competed at the championships.

Full Press Release: British Champs 2016