British Trials, Day 6 Finals: Matt Richards Leads Home Duncan Scott In 200 Free; No Title Defence For Tom Dean

Matt Richards: Photo Courtesy; Morgan Harlow, GB Aquatics
Left Sidebar

British Trials, Day 6 Finals: Matt Richards Leads Home Duncan Scott In 200 Free; No Title Defence For Tom Dean

Matt Richards led home Duncan Scott in the 200 free with both men inside the Paris cut but there’ll be no Olympic title defence for Tom Dean who was third in the final race of the six-day trials meet in London.

Richards, the 2023 world champion, came home in 1:44.69, 0.06 ahead of Tokyo silver medallist Scott who clocked 1:44.75, with Dean third in 1:45.09.

James Guy, the 2015 world champion and Tokyo 4×2 gold medallist, was fourth in 1:45.28 to book his place on the relay in Paris come July.

Jack McMillan (1:46.19), Kieran Bird (1:46.99), Luke Turley (1:47.75) and Joe Litchfield (1:49.73) completed the field.

The field contained seven Olympians – Luke Turley the only man to have not yet made a Games – sharing 14 medals between them, of which six are gold, as well as making 34 trips to the world podium.

Splits:

Richards: 24.27/50.85 (26.58)/1:17.73 (26.88)/1:44.69 (26.96)

Scott: 24.52/51.04 (26.52)O/1:18.07 (27.03)/1:44.75 (26.68)

Dean: 24.30/51.28 (26.98)/1:18.23 (26.95)/1:45.09 (26.86)

Guy: 24.36/50.58 (26.22)/1:17.56 (26.98)/1:45.28 (27.72)

It was Richards’ second win of the meet following 100 gold and the Welshman also went inside the cut in the 50 free behind Ben Proud to book a busy schedule in the French capital,

He said:

“It’s been great: I couldn’t have asked for much more.

“I said on night one for me that 100 freestyle wasn’t as fast as maybe I’d have liked it to be.

“There were some areas where I kind of got that wrong but we learned from that, we moved it on in the 50 for a PB and a nomination time.

“And then again tonight, to come away with the win, that was the only objective this evening.

“The times are kind of like a secondary thing here, it’s all about those placement points.

“And it’s the same in the summer.

“At the end of the day, I’m not here to swim a fast time, I’m here to win.”

Scott won the 200IM ahead of Dean at the Aquatics Centre and finished second behind Richards in the 100 free as well as Sunday’s 200.

Success in London also translates to a big programme for Scott, who became the most decorated British athlete at a single Olympics when he won four medals in Tokyo.

The University of Stirling swimmer came from third at the 150 behind Guy and Richards to post a 26.68 final-50 blast and come within 0.06 of victory.

He said:

“It’s always a blanket finish in that event, you never really know for sure where you are in that race.

“I’ve had Jimmy (James Guy) next to me swimming that race for so many years. Its a really difficult final, there’s always so much emotion that comes with it.

“With guys either side of you, either really excited or locked out of it as well.

“Deano (Tom Dean) is one of my close mates and it’s difficult seeing that, but it’s sport as well.

“Once every year is different, and also every Olympics is so different. We are all very different ages to what we were in Tokyo and we are all from different environments, you know we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

“Every other nation is moving the event on and that sort of time might not even win it and I can see quite a few countries going sub seven minutes. It was a great job well done there with the boys, but this is just the start of it.

“I don’t think the result has quite hit me yet, but it caps off quite a good week for me.”

While Richards and Scott were elated, Dean will have to process the fact there’ll be no title defence, three years after he headed that British 1-2.

He pointed to the calibre of the event in Britain and the camaraderie and support of the field but added:

“It’s bitter-sweet. There’s only one person in the world who had a chance to defend the 200 free olympic title ever in the history of the sport.

“And unfortunately I passed that opportunity up about five minutes ago.

“So, I am going to have to go back and reflect on that.

“I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet.”

“Obviously it’s always quite stacked. you’ve got all those boys wanting top two positions.

“But it’s been weird: the 100 fly was an absolute shambles.

“It’s been quite frustrating – people saying you alright? I’m fine, I just swam like a bit of an idiot really.

“Kind of thinking, one bad swim, I’m in a bad place and I think I showed out there I’m doing alright.”

He added:

“Start of the week I kind of forgot, I’m trying to qualify for third Olympics. You take that a lot for granted.

“Yeah, it’s looking good for the summer and I’m sure pretty sure we can all build on that, 100%.”

 

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x