James Wilby takes confident 100m Breaststroke gold

December 14, 2017 Swimming News

James Wilby started the finals on day two in style at the Swim England National Winter Championships 2017, winning the men’s 100m Breaststroke.

After narrowly missing out on the consideration time for the Gold Coast in this morning’s heats, the Loughborough National Centre swimmer looked relieved to have shaved a few more millisecond off to duck under 59.98.

He touched in 59.95 for a new personal best and a gold medal.

Wilby commented: “I am very happy to win gold. I had a slightly disappointing swim yesterday [in the 200m Breaststroke] missing out on the qualification time for the Commonwealth Games next year.

“So to do this today and bounce back within 24 hours is great.”

Second place went to Andrew Willis of Bath National Centre in a time of 1:01.16. Lawrence Palmer of Putteridge claimed the bronze medal with 1:01.28.

Toby Mackay-Champion of City of Oxford ducked under this personal best time to claim gold in the B final. He swam 1:03.49, beating his old lifetime best by 0.6 seconds.

Fullalove fastest English swimmer in 100m Back

Jessica Fullalove claimed gold in the Women’s 100m Backstroke event. Although she was beaten to the wall by the Canadian Taylor Ruck, she was the fastest English swimmer.

She was also inside the consideration time for Commonwealth selection, touching in 1:00.65.

Fullalove said: “I’ve done what I wanted to achieve. I wanted to get the qualification time so that’s a big weight off my shoulders. I can now focus on the rest of the meet and enjoy it.”

Chloe Golding of City of Manchester Aquatics claimed a silver medal for her 1:01.22 effort, also within the consideration time. Bronze went to City of Liverpool’s Lauren Quigley with 1:01.95.

In the B final, Loughborough Uni’s Charlotte Evans claimed the gold medal. She was only just ahead of the field, taking the win with a 1:02.68 effort.