By Retta Race on SwimSwam
2026 AQUATICS GB SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Tuesday, April 14th – Sunday, April 19th Prelims at 9:30am local (4:30am ET)/B-Finals & Junior Finals at 6pm local (1pm ET)/A-finals at 7:45pm local (2:45pm ET) London Aquatics Centre European Championships Selection Policy SwimSwam Preview Meet Central Entries Prelims Recap: Day 1 Start Lists/Live Results LivestreamDay one of the 2026 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships will see action unfold this evening for our first finals session, featuring some of the nation’s speediest veterans and rising young stars.
As a reminder, this competition represents the primary qualification opportunity for swimmers to add their names to the British roster for this year’s European Championships. It also serves as a qualification competition for the swimmers’ Home Nation selection for this year’s Commonwealth Games.
The event lineup includes the men’s 400m free, women’s 50m breast, women’s 200m fly, men’s 50m breast and women’s 100m free to get the party started.
START LIST
While the men’s 400m free will include racing mainstays James Guy, Jack McMillan and Tyler Melbourne-Smith, the women’s 50m breast saw a pair of newcomers enter the mix ahead of veteran and British national record holder Imogen Clark.
Gabrielle Idle-Beavers roared to the wall first as the top-seeded prelims swimmer, posting a monster personal best of 30.82. Just like that, the Mount Kelly swimmer became GBR’s 10th-best performer of all time in her first-ever outing under the 31-second barrier.
The likes of Olympic semi-finalist Keanna MacInnes, former world junior champion Emily Richards and Ciara Schlosshan will be among the top contenders in the women’s 200m fly, with 16-year-old two-time European Junior Championships gold medalist Amalie Smith also making tonight’s main event.
Olympic multi-champion and world record holder Adam Peaty put up a promising morning swim of 59.30 to land lane 4 for tonight’s men’s 100m breast final. Although, World Junior Championships multi-medalist Filip Nowacki will be hot on the newly-married man’s trail in pursuit of championship qualification.
Finally, a tale of two Freyas is set to unfold in the women’s 100m fly final, with Freya Anderson and Freya Colbert ready to rumble after clinching the top two seeds.
Abbie Wood, Leah Schlosshan, Eva Okaro and Theodora Taylor will look to rain on their parade, however.
MEN’S 400 FREE – FINAL
British Record – 3:43.75, James Guy, 2015 GBR Euros QT – 3:46.56 ENG Commonwealth QT – 3:48.34 WAL Commonwealth QT – 3:49.66 SCO Commonwealth QT – 3:49.73 NI Commonwealth QT – 3:51.57GOLD – James Guy, 3:44.04 *GBR Euros QT, ENG QT* SILVER – Jack McMillan, 3:46.82 *NI QT* BRONZE – Tyler Melbourne-Smith, 3:47.17 *WA QT*
30-year-old veteran and Olympic multi-gold medalist James Guy threw down the hammer in the men’s 400m free final, leading wire-to-wire to claim gold in a wicked-quick performance of 3:44.04.
That garnered him a roster slot on the British line-up for this year’s European Championships, as well as on England’s roster for the Commonwealth Games.
Guy, who represents Manchester Performance Centre, beat the pack by well over two seconds. His men’s 4x200m freestyle relay gold medalist teammate from the 2024 Olympic Games, Jack McMillan, was next to the wall in 3:46.82 followed by Tyler Melbourne-Smith‘s erffort of 3:47.17.
Guy’s lifetime best and British record remains at the 3:43.75 he logged in 2015 but the fact that he was less than half a second off that mark tonight, 11 years later, is quite remarkable. He now ranks 5th in the world at the moment, bumping out newly minted European Record holder in the 800m fre, Johannes Liebmann of Germany.
2025-2026 LCM Men 400 FREE
Zhang CHNZhanshuo 03/213:41.552SamuelSHORTAUS3:42.5304/063Lukas MärtensGER3:43.0403/214Oliver KlemetGER3:43.1404/095Johannes LiebmannGER3:44.5904/09View Top 26»McMillan’s time checks in as his first-ever foray under the 3:47 barrier, overtaking his previous PB of 3:47.28 from last year’s World Championships. He now checks in as GBR’s 12th-best performer of all time.
Rounding out the podium was Loughborough’s Tyler Melbourne-Smith, with the 20-year-old rising star clocking a time of 3:47.17, a new lifetime best by nearly a second. He’ll dive back in for the men’s 800m and 1500m freestyle events later in this competition.
WOMEN’S 50 BREAST – FINAL
British Record – 30.02, Imogen Clark, 2022 GBR Euros QT – 30.57 ENG Commonwealth QT – 30.90 WAL Commonwealth QT – 31.23 SCO Commonwealth QT – 31.16 NI Commonwealth QT – 31.21GOLD – Imogen Clark, 30.69 *ENG QT* SILVER – Anna Morgan, 30.83 BRONZE – Gabrielle Idle-Beavers, 31.11
Reigning British national record holder Imogen Clark did what had to be done to capture gold in the final of the women’s 50m breaststroke.
The 26-year-old European Championships and Commonwealth Games multi-medalist stopped the clock at 30.69 to register one of two sub-31-second outings of the field.
Joining her under the barrier was Edinburgh’s Anna Morgan, who clinched silver in 30.83; not enough for the European Championships but enough for the English Commonwealth Games lineup.
Falling from the top seed to the bronze medal position was Mt Kellly’s Gabrielle Idle-Beavers, who settled for 3rd in 31.11 after hitting a monster lifetime best of 30.82 this morning.
Clark’s national record remains at the 30.02 she swam for silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, while Morgan’s swim tonight scored a new PB, overtaking her previous best-ever outing of 30.78 notched at the Edinburgh International this past March.
WOMEN’S 200 FLY – FINAL
British Record – 2:04.83, Ellen Gandy, 2009 GBR Euros QT – 2:07.96 ENG Commonwealth QT – 2:10.00 WAL Commonwealth QT – 2:11.23 SCO Commonwealth QT – 2:11.88 NI Commonwealth QT – 2:11.15GOLD – SILVER – BRONZE –
MEN’S 100 BREAST – FINAL
British Record – 56.88, Adam Peaty, 2019 GBR Euros QT – 59.65 ENG Commonwealth QT – 1:00.10 WAL Commonwealth QT – 1:00.68 SCO Commonwealth QT – 1:01.04 NI Commonwealth QT – 1:00.65GOLD – SILVER – BRONZE –
WOMEN’S 100 FREE – FINAL
British Record – 52.75, Anna Hopkin, 2021 GBR Euros QT – 53.62 ENG Commonwealth QT – 54.05 WAL Commonwealth QT – 54.44 SCO Commonwealth QT – 54.71 NI Commonwealth QT – 55.06GOLD – SILVER – BRONZE –
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