O’Rourke leaves 200m Breaststroke field in his wake

Northampton’s Jackson O’Rourke hammered home a considerable PB as he finished nearly four seconds ahead of the field in the men’s 15yrs 100m Breaststroke.

O’Rourke led from the whistle, and looked as though he might have gone out a little fast. However, with each length he put more water between him and Kenji McDade of Maxwell SC.

O’Rourke took the title in a time of 2:29.69, the only swimmer to go sub 2:30. He lowered his PB by over two seconds.

O’Rourke commented: “It feels really good to win gold. I just went out there to go faster than I did in the heats and try and beat my PB.

“I’ve got the 200m medley and the 50m breaststroke coming up, so I think a gold today will help build my confidence for those.”

Second place went to McDade, who also swam a big PB. He shaved nearly three seconds from his previous time to take the silver medal with 2:33.91. Bronze went to Timothy Leberl of Beckenham in 2:34.02.

Williams swims four second PB for 200m breast title

Beth Williams of Thanet Swim Club swam a very similar race to O’Rourke, taking and maintaining the lead very early on.

She set a personal best time in the heats, touching in 2:43.34, but that seemed to be a casual paddle compared to her finals time. Williams took the gold medal in a time of 2:39.34.

Beth with her 200 Brst GOLD! @thanetscpic.twitter.com/5VegOIMCJg

— Dan Cross (@coachdancross) August 3, 2017

Williams commented: “It feels amazing to get a gold medal. My game plan was to go out fast and try and hold the lead. In the heats I went out fast and it felt good, so I thought I fancied that again. I made some finals at the British nationals last week, so I am very happy now.”

Stockport Metro’s Charlotte Hulme also swam a great race. It seemed as though she was pushing to catch Williams, and she almost did.

Hulme touched in 2:40.27 for silver, also a four second PB. The final podium spot went to Michaela Stephen, who touched in 2:42.89 for bronze.

• Click here to see full results from the Swim England National Summer Meet 2017.

Other 200m Breaststroke gold medallists:

• Drew McGregor (Swim Bournemouth) men’s 13/14yrs – 2:32.46
• Frederick Wilkinson (City of Oxford) men’s 15yrs – 2:29.80
• Miles Clarke (Ealing) men’s 17yrs – 2:23.12
• Joe Litchfield (Sheffield) men’s 18yrs/Over – 2:20.57
• Imogen Lambert (Flitwick) women’s 12/13yrs – 2:43.52
• Flora Perkin (Newton Abbot) women’s 14yrs – 2:42.80
• Ellie Grant (Borough of Redbridge) women’s 16yrs – 2:41.49
• Molly Roodhouse (City of Manchester) women’s 17yrs/Over – 2:34.24