Lottie Cullen Goes Through 57Sec Barrier For Irish 100 Back Record At BUCS s/c Championships
Lottie Cullen became the first Irishwoman through the 57-second barrier in the 100m backstroke as she posted a time of 56.96 at the BUCS Short Course Championships in Sheffield.
The 21-year-old, representing Ulster, reached the halfway mark in 27.42 before going 29.54 over the second half of the race to take 0.35 off the 57.31 record she’d posted in October at the third stop of the World Cup.
Cullen led throughout and finished 0.91 ahead of Katie Shanahan, the Stirling swimmer clocking 57.87 with Honey Osrin (Loughborough) third in 59.46.
Freya Colbert: Photo Courtesy: Morgan Harlow/Aquatics GB
Freya Colbert enjoyed two trips to the top of the podium. First up was the 200 free in which she set a PB of 1:52.26 as she made her first trip inside 1:53. It was the fourth-best performance by a British woman all-time, bettered only by Freya Anderson whose national record stands at 1:51.87 from the International Swimming League (ISL) in 2020.
Colbert, representing Loughborough, returned for the 200IM in which she went 2:06.26 for gold as Shanahan took her second silver of the session in 2:07.79.
Lucy Grieve of Stirling was also writing an entry into the history books after going 56.76 in the 100 fly for a new Scottish standard. Stirling teammate David Annis and Jack Skerry of Bath shared the men’s title in 51.94.
Angharad Evans of Stirling won the women’s 50m breaststroke in 30.04 with Archie Goodburn taking the men’s title in 26.43. The Edinburgh swimmer was 0.17 off the Scottish record of 26.26 he shares with Ross Murdoch.
Max Litchfield, of Loughborough won the men’s 200IM in 1:56.61 while Tyler Melbourne-Smith came from 1.5secs down on Cameron Brooker at the penultimate turn to win the 200 free in 1:44.05. Brooker took second in 1:44.32.
Fleur Lewis headed the 1500 free in 16:03.06 with Alexander Sergeant leading the way in the men’s fastest heat in 15:08.76.
A Stirling quartet of Annis, Evans, Grieve and Thomas Leggett won the 4x50m mixed medley relay in 1:40.59 ahead of a Loughborough team including Colbert (1:41.93).
