Loughborough stars on form at British champs
ADAM Peaty put “three years of hell” behind him by qualifying for this summer’s Paris Olympics in sensational style at the British Swimming Championships.
The Loughborough-based star won the 100m breaststroke final in London in 57.94 seconds – the fastest time in the world this year and his quickest performance since he defended his Olympic title in 2021.
Peaty, who took a break from the sport to deal with his mental health issues, was asked if he was back to his best form and said: “I think so.
He added: “A 57.9 is very good, still not where I want to be, but the first solid result where I am like, ‘Oh not many people can do this.’”
It was the quickest 100m breaststroke since China’s Qin Haiyang, who is expected to be a rival for Peaty at this summer’s Olympics, won the 2023 world championships in a time of 57.69.
“I felt so light in the water,” said 29-year-old Peaty, a three-time Olympic champion.
“This is a real win for my team, my family and myself. We have come through the past three years of hell.
“I didn’t want to see a pool again. The sport had broken me.
“I didn’t know what route to go down and so many things got in my way, but now I am waking up each day and enjoying my job.
“Who knows what the ending is going to be but I am having fun along the way.
“It may not end up as a fairytale, but it might...”
Peaty added: “I’ve learned to appreciate the moments of greatness for myself.
“For me, that was a great swim, executed well – but the most promising thing is that I’m finding peace in the water now, instead of anger and just fighting it, and trying to win like that. I’m finding a new version of myself which I’m really liking, and I think that’s a version that can do really well at the Olympics.”
Scotland’s Keanna MacInnes, 22, booked her ticket to Paris after overtaking Loughborough-based Laura Stephens in the women’s 200m butterfly.
However, Stephens – the reigning world champion in the event – also finished below the required nomination time to put herself in contention for Team GB.
Loughborough team mate Freya Colbert, who claimed women’s 400m individual medley gold in Doha, finished ahead of training partner and Loughborough graduate Abbie Wood in the women’s 200m freestyle to secure her nomination, while Wood’s time was also under the nomination standard.
World 400m individual medly champion Freya Colbert booked her place in the event at the Paris Olympics after cruising to victory at the British Swimming Championships.
Loughborough University student Colbert had already won the 200m freestyle British title but is likely to miss that event in Paris because of a clash with the 400m medley.
Colbert, 29, and Katie Shanahan were a class above the field in the final with Scot Shanahan also under the qualification time and likely to take the second Olympic place.
No British woman has won an individual Olympic swimming title since Rebecca Adlington in 2008.
However, Colbert, who won in a personal best time of four minutes 34.01 seconds, has played down her chances of becoming Olympic champion.
In Paris she will likely race against Canadian world record holder, 17-year-old Summer McIntosh, who was absent from this year’s world championships in Doha.
“McIntosh is head and shoulders above the rest,” Colbert told BBC Sport.
“I am not going to be saying I am going to do it. I don’t know if this will be the time.
“I would love it to be but I am also very realistic. I know what the rest of the field looks like.”
Colbert is now part of a crop of outstanding female swimmers who could really make an impact in the Paris Games this summer.
“Everyone always has the dream to go to the Olympics… but I didn’t necessarily think I’d be in this position,” Colbert told the Telegraph.
“It shows how quickly it can change. In lockdown, like so many people, I wasn’t competing. I wasn’t training.
“I did struggle. So much of the sport for me is the social side of it.
“I hadn’t made a senior team [at the time of the Tokyo Games] and was probably slightly oblivious to the magnitude of the performances. I wasn’t someone who stayed up and watched the finals.
“I would watch the races back on my phone but it was definitely very inspiring.
“We are only a small country compared to America. The legacy is there.
“The gauntlet has been laid down and we are going to be trying to beat that in Paris.
“When I first joined Loughborough a year and a half ago, Dave [Hemmings, the Team GB coach] sat us down and said that this was the first time he’d really had such a strong group on the female side.
“We did a bit of work around the bonding and really using each other in training to get the best out of each other.
“That is something that I really underestimated, and maybe is underestimated a lot growing up in swimming.
“I think it has been overlooked, not on purpose, but the boys’ side has been stronger in recent years.
“We are really pushing and driving forward. It was nice to even the scales a little bit [in Doha].”
Meanwhile, Loughborough-based world silver medallist Max Litchfield booked his place at the Olympics in a British record time.
Litchfield won the men’s 400m individual medley in a time of 4:09.14 to give himself the chance to go one better than fourth at the past two Olympics.
The 29-year-old said: “I’m a bit overwhelmed to be honest.
“The goal coming in was to qualify and obviously that’s been ticked off, but to get the British record back is amazing.
“I’m really happy, really excited and just looking forward to the summer.
Loughborough-based Anna Hopkin, who won gold in the mixed 4x100m relay in Tokyo, defended her women’s 50m freestyle title to book a return trip to the Games.
Honey Osrin booked her ticket to a maiden Olympics with victory in the women’s 200 metres backstroke.
The 21-year-old Loughborough University student pipped Katie Shanahan to victory, with both meeting the Games standard.
Osrin said: “It just means everything. It’s everyone’s dream to go to the Olympics, and I’m ecstatic, I’m so happy.”
Joe Litchfield secured his place in Paris by winning the men’s 100m butterfly in a new personal best and Abbie Wood produced a personal best in the 200m individual medley to comfortably clear the qualification time for Paris.
Her effort of 2:08.91 would have won bronze at this year’s world championships in Doha.
“I just want to be as competitive as I was at the last Olympics because it is always more fun when you are in the mix,” said the 25-year-old, who reached the final of the event in Tokyo three years ago.