Ruta Meilutyte shines to bring curtain down on Champs

Plymouth Leander’s Olympic and world champion Ruta Meilutyte clocked the fastest time in the world this year to take 17/18 Yrs 100m Breaststroke gold on the final day of the 2014 British Gas ASA National Youth Championships in Sheffield.

The Lithuanian swimmer completed her preparation for the upcoming European Championships with a 1:05.21 effort in the final, holding off Derventio’s 50m Breaststroke champion Sarah Vasey who set a PB 1:09.22 for silver.

Meilutyte didn’t stop at 100m Breast gold as she added the 17/18 Yrs 50m Freestyle title then helped the Plymouth Leander quartet to 4x100m Medley Relay gold for a hat-trick in one night.

“I’m really happy with that swim and the time, it’s a good positive mark of where I am right now and with a few more meets coming up in the season it gives me a lot of confidence,” said Meilutyte.

“Next, I’ve got the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing and then on to the European Championships in Berlin – so still a lot to do but hopefully I can go even faster there and set myself up well for next season.”

McLean continues form with third British age group record

Craig McLean continued his storming finish to the meet with his third British Age Group record in as many nights.

Having lowered the 15 Yrs 100m Freestyle marker in both the semi-finals and final on days four and five respectively, the Carnegie swimmer set a new 50m record, initially 23.51 from tonight’s semi finals, then 23.27 for gold in the 15/16 Yrs final.

There were also impressive performances from Ben Proud (19 Yrs / Over 50m Freestyle) and Jessica Thielmann (19 Yrs / Over 400m Freestyle) on the final night in Sheffield.

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