Max Litchfield claims second title of 2017 British Champs

City of Sheffield swimmer Max Litchfield claimed his second title of the British Swimming Championships 2017 with victory in 200m Individual Medley.

Litchfield, who claimed the 400m IM title on day three, beat Scottish rival Mark Szaranek to the wall.

The Rio 2016 finalist touched in 1:58.10, while Szaranek of Edinburgh took silver with a time of 1:58.39. There was only half a second between the two swimmers at the final turn, but Szaranek just couldn’t close up the gap.

Litchfield commented: “I am very happy. I was hoping to go under the two minute mark, and to break that by a couple of seconds is very promising.

“The last couple of years I’ve not been racing my best. I’ve done well in the 400 Medley, but the 200 just hasn’t come together. Coming here is a matter of qualifying for Budapest, and now I’ve done that it’s exciting times and I can look forward to that.”

University of Stirling swimmer Duncan Scott claimed bronze in 1:58.44 while London Aquatics swimmer Jarvis Parkinson served notice of his talent with an English age group record. The 18-year old clocked a PB 2:00.16 to finish fifth overall.

Hibbott breezes to 400m Freestyle gold

Holly Hibbott of Stockport Metro showed off her Freestyle prowess in tonight’s finals, beating both Jazz Carlin and Eleanor Faulkner to the 400m Freestyle title.

Despite being behind the two swimmers at the 300m mark, Hibbott kept to her pace. In the closing phase of the race she dug deep and overtook both rivals.

Her final split was sub 30 seconds, which put her almost a second ahead of silver medal position.

She touched in 4:06.37 for the win, lowering the British 17 yrs age group record in the process.

Bath University swimmer Jazz Carlin followed up with 4:07.24 for silver and City of Sheffield’s Eleanor Faulkner took bronze (4:07.62).

Hibbott commented: “I can’t believe it, I am so happy. It was a really good race. I could see the other two girls right near me, so in the last 50 I said to myself, just put your head down and go as fast as you can, and it paid off!”

Wood claims silver in 200m IM

The second 200m Individual Medley event of the evening saw both Abbie Wood and Molly Renshaw reach the podium while Olympic silver medallist Siobhan-Marie O’Connor was disqualified.

O’Connor stormed clear to touch first in 2:09.72 but was disqualified after the race for a false start.

But the Bath swimmers disqualification moved Loughborough-based duo Wood and Renshaw into better positions on the podium. The English pair were almost neck and neck with Aberdeen’s Hannah Miley at the final turn, with just two tenths of a second between them.

In the last 50m, Miley had saved some fuel in the tank and picked up the pace, leaving the two English swimmers in her wake.

But while Miley touched in 2:11.75 for gold, Wood came home in 2:12.62 and Renshaw was third fastest to the wall in a time of 2:13.21.

• Click here to view full results from the British Swimming Championships 2017.