Chloe Baxter in top form in women’s 200m Free

Chloe Baxter was on fire on the opening night of the Swim England National Summer Meet 2017, excelling herself to win gold in the 12/13 Yrs 200m Freestyle.

Sophie Freeman of Colchester had left the competition behind in the heats, swimming a second and a half faster than anyone else in her age group.

However, Baxter came back in the final to knock over three seconds from her heat swim, and over two and a half seconds from her lifetime best. She made it to the wall in 2:08.01.

And it's Gold for Chloe Baxter in the 200fc ?… Excellent race execution rewarded with a huge PB. Well done Baxter #SharpSharp#SEswimming

— City of Leicester SC (@SwimLeic) August 2, 2017

Baxter commented on her performance: “I feel good. It was quite a difficult swim, I was just keeping my eye on everyone else and trying not to lag behind.

“I’ve got eight more events coming up this week. I’ve got the 50m Free tomorrow and I’m looking forward to that, and putting everything into it.”

Freeman was under a second behind, also beating her personal best time as she claimed silver in a time of 2:08.91. Bronze went to Bromley’s Tamryn Van Selm, who clocked 2:09.16.

Isobel Grant showed her prowess in front of a home crowd to win the 17yrs+ 200m Free. She was third fastest qualifier coming in to the final, over a second and a half slower than her season best time.

However, in the final she really let loose. Although the Sheffield swimmer didn’t quite meet her PB, she swam her fastest time of the year, touching in 2:03.35 to claim gold.

Grant said: “I feel really happy with that. I’ve not been tapering at the minute, so I came into this just looking for a good training swim. To come out so close to my PB, I’m really happy.”

Lougborough University’s Amrita Robinson, who was the fastest qualifier for this age group, touched second. She made it to the wall in 2:04.35. Wandsworth’s Phyllida Britton claimed the last podium spot, taking bronze with 2:04.86

Beentjes takes comfortable 17yrs 200m Free gold

Harley Beentjes secured gold in the men’s 17yrs 200m Freestyle final, shaving a second from his personal best set in the heats.

The Wigan BEST swimmer had Jamie Scholes of Peterborough hot on his heels at the 150m mark, but Scholes just couldn’t keep up the pace as Beentjes took the title with 1:53.60.

Beenjes commented: “It feels really overwhelming, I can’t believe it. A good PB as well. As of last week, my PB was 1:56, now it’s 1:53. It’s been a long time coming, as I’m usually a distance swimmer, so it’s a bit of a shock for me.”

Scholes was less than a second behind, touching in 1:54.33 and Maxwell’s William Martin made up the podium, taking bronze with 1:56.02.

Jacob Davies of Birmingham looked strong in the 15yrs 200m Freestyle. He had swum a personal best in the heats to qualify fastest for the final, and knocked that time down again in his title race.

Davies was well over a second ahead of second place, touching in 1:57.35 to top the podium.

“It feels great to get gold,” said Davies, who won six individual medals at last week’s British Summer Champs.

“It was a lot easier than the heats, as I didn’t do so well in the second hundred this morning. But I spoke to my coach and then came out tonight a lot more controlled.”

Mount Kelly’s Joseph Russell took silver with a time of 1:58.91 and James Cooper of Basildon Phoenix took bronze (1:59.33).

Other 200m Free gold medallists:

• Charley Langford (Thanet Swim) men’s 13/14yrs – 2:01.85
• Michael Ripper (City of St Albans) men’s 16yrs – 1:58.96
• Nathan Wells (Loughborough) men’s 18yrs+ – 1:52.03
• Charlotte Wynne-Jones (City of Milton Keynes) women’s 14yrs – 2:08.69
• Charlotte Hall (Derventio eXcel) women’s 15yrs – 2:07.17
• Jasmine McCrea (Poole) women’s 16yrs – 2:05.82