Gold for Greenbank in dominant display at McCullagh International

Swimming News

An impressive performance from Luke Greenbank saw him finish just outside Olympic qualifying time to ease to the gold medal in the 200m Backstroke at the McCullagh International Meet 2020.

The 22-year-old’s time of 1:57.51 was just one hundredth of a second outside of the Olympic qualifying time for this event, as he continues his Tokyo preparations.

Greenbank finished comfortably ahead of his competitors, with more than a four second gap between him and silver medallist, Conor Ferguson of Larne Swimming Club. Sean Scannell finished in third place to take bronze.

The Loughborough swimmer followed the feat he achieved at the BUCS Long Course Championships, adding the 200m Backstroke gold to his 100m title.

After breaking his own record twice in the same day at the BUCS competition, Greenbank improved on his time yet again, swimming almost one second faster.

Peaty shows class

Adam Peaty concluded his weekend in Bangor by taking gold in the 50m Breaststroke.

Adding to his gold medal in the 100m Breaststroke earlier in the competition, the Olympic and world champion put on a confident display.

Despite a strong challenge from Ross Murdoch, Peaty secured the win in a time of 27.01 seconds.

It was the same three on the podium as in the 100m event however, this time it was Murdoch who finished second (27.48) with James Wilby in third (27.72).

Wood wins again

Loughborough teammates Abbie Wood and Siobhan-Marie O’Connor were separated by just 0.38 of a second in the 200m Individual Medley.

Abbie Wood was the fastest in qualifying and followed it up with a strong performance in the final.

The 20-year-old touched first, clocking a time of 2:12.45, to finish on top of the podium with O’Connor taking silver in 2:12.83.

There was a slightly wider gap between second and third with University of Aberdeen swimmer, Hannah Miley, claiming the bronze medal.

Double delight for Vasey

After sharing her gold medal win in the 100m Breaststroke, Sarah Vasey took all the spoils in the 50m Breaststroke.

The Commonwealth gold medallist qualified fastest for this event (31.73) and was able to improve her time in the final.

Vasey took gold in a time of 31.12 while both Mona McSharry and fellow Loughborough swimmer Molly Renshaw bettered their 100m standings.

McSharry’s time of 31.66 was enough to secure silver while Renshaw added a bronze medal to her 200m gold as she clocked in at 32.57.

Silver sensations

Northampton swimmer, Ed Mildred, beat his personal best (54.22) in the 100m Butterfly, touching in 53.04 seconds.

However, he was beaten by Scottish swimmer Duncan Scott who was dubbed as ‘the man to watch’ ahead of the final. He finished in 52.84 seconds.

The Litchfield brothers were both silver medallists in their respective finals.

Joe finished second in the 200m Individual Medley while Duncan Scott also took the gold medal in that event.

The older of the two, Max Litchfield, went stroke for stroke with Swansea University swimmer Daniel Jervis in the 400m Freestyle.

Jervis finished the stronger of the two, meaning Litchfield clocked around one and a half seconds behind.

Charlotte Atkinson’s silver meant Loughborough University won a total of 10 medals on day four at the McCullagh International Meet in Northern Ireland.

Just 0.13s separated Atkinson and Welsh swimmer, Alys Thomas.

It was Thomas who touched first (59.23) meaning the Loughborough swimmer’s time of 59.36 placed her in between two Welsh swimmers, as Gabrielle Melbourne-Smith took bronze.

Picture credit: Swim Ireland Twitter

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