British Trials, Day 6 Prelims: Tom Dean & Matt Richards Book Centre Lanes In 200 Free; 1:47.76 To Make The Final

Tom Dean: Photo Courtesy: Morgan Harlow, Aquatics GB

British Trials, Day 6 Prelims: Tom Dean & Matt Richards Book Centre Lanes In 200 Free; 1:47.76 To Make The Final

Olympic champion Tom Dean booked lane four alongside 2023 world gold medallist Matt Richards for the final of the 200 free at the Aquatics Centre in London.

The lst event of the six-day programme is set to be a frenzy of freestyle with a depth of quality that is unmatched outside Great Britain.

Away from the 200 free, Luke Greenbank – the Olympic and world medallist – led the 200 back as he seeks to book his place at Paris 2024.

Men’s 200m Backstroke

Greenbank went in the final heat after 100 winner Ollie Morgan had posted a time of 1:58.89.

Jonathon Marshall was leading before Greenbank, who won bronze in Tokyo, came past on the second half of the race to book lane four in 1:57.35.

Greenbank told Swimming World:

“It’s an opportunity to blow off the cobwebs. Hopefully there’s a lot more in there I think.

“I just wanted to get out, strong start, try to finish well but I think there’s no point overdoing it in the heats so there’s a little bit more in there.”

Also through to Sunday’s final: Brodie Williams (1:59.43), Charlie Brown (1:59.59), Matthew Ward (1:59.98), Cameron Brooker (2:00.89) and Jack Skerry (2:00.95).

Men’s 200m Freestyle

There was a huge sense of anticipation for this event at the Aquatics Centre with Olympic and world champions taking to the water.

Dean led home Duncan Scott for a British 1-2 in Tokyo and it was the latter who appeared in the fifth of eight heats, the first seeded prelim.

The six-time Olympic medallist produced some great underwaters to win the heat in 1:47.18 ahead of Joe Litchfield – winner of the 100 fly – who clocke 1:47.76.

Dean was in lane four alongside Jack McMillan in the following heat with the latter leading the way before the pair went stroke for stroke out of the final turn with the Olympic champion posting 1:46.47 to 1:46.79 and Kieran Bird going 1:47.17, 0.01 quicker than Scott’s time.

Come the final heat and 2023 world champion Richards took his place alongside Millfield training mate and Tokyo 4×2 teammate and gold medallist James Guy.

Guy led out of the final turn before Richards came past to stop the clock in 1:46.64 to book lane five with Guy also through in fourth as he seeks to qualify for his third Games having not yet booked a slot.

Qualifiers:

Tom Dean (1:46.47); Matt Richards (1:46.64); Jack McMillan (1:46.79); James Guy (1:46.90); Kieran Bird (1:47.17); Duncan Scott (1:47.18); Luke Turley (1:47.26); Joe Litchfield (1:47.76)

Max Litchfield (1:48.01) and Cameron Kurle (1:48.64) were the men to miss out in ninth and 10th to take the reserve spots.

Richards, who has booked slots in the 50 and 100 free, pointed to the pressure that comes with the event despite being a world champion.

He said:

“We know how strong our event is in Britain.

“It’s not by any means going to be an easy race at all tonight, it’s going to be a real scrap that could go one of many different ways.

“The pressure is very much there.

“I wouldn’t say the week’s been faultless either.

“The 50 yesterday was great, I was really pleased with that; the 100 was executed quite poorly on my behalf, it wasn’t as fast as I think it maybe should have been.

“We showed that last night – the speed was there on that 50, kind of confirmed that 100 should have been better.

“I am just going to try and make sure tonight I right the wrongs of that 100 and really get after it and have a good race with the boys.”

Given the quality across the board, how do you mentally prepare for a race like that?

“It is really useful being in the end heat there, it makes it so much easier to know exactly what’s been done and what’s needed to get into the final.

“I probably could have backed off even more just to make the final but I wanted to be in that middle lane, I wanted to be in that race tonight.

“I don’t want to be trying to fight for a win from an outside lane, that’s not easy to do.

“So I just tried to do enough this morning to make sure I was in the final tonight, in a good lane and reserve something for tonight and we can see what we can do.”

All four members of the winning 4×2 relay in Tokyo will take their place in the final with many of the field friends, teammates and training partners.

Looking to those moments before the race, Richards added:

“Me and Duncan were chatting the other day and we were saying that 100 free call room was probably the most intense call room either of us have ever been in.

“That kind of sets you up: we know what we’re going to expect tonight, it’s going to be really intense before that race.

“We are all really good friends, we are all good mates and team-mates but at the end of the day, tonight we’re competing for the same spots and that means a lot to all of us individually.

“So before the race it will be very tense, after the race we’ll all shake hands and be pleased for each other whatever the result.”

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