2026 Aquatics GB Championships: Nowacki Cruises To Top Seed In The 200 Breast In Day 5 Prelims ...Middle East

By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam

2026 AQUATICS GB SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Onto the penultimate day of the 2026 Aquatics GB Championships, we saw swimmers take to the pool in six events this morning. The women’s 100 fly, men’s 50 free, women’s 200 IM, men’s 200 breast, and men’s 800 free will be contested today, seeing stars such as Abbie Wood, Matt Richards, Filip Nowacki, and Keanna Macinnes in action.

Women’s 100 Fly

Keanna Macinnes was the only swimmer to crack 58 seconds this morning as she locked up another event for Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games this summer. She won the final heat in 57.93, just off her Scottish record of 57.67 from the World Championships semi-finals last summer, and tenth of a second faster than the time she swam to win gold at this meet last year.

Macinnes has already qualified for the European Championships courtesy of the 2:07.01 she posted to win the 200 fly on day 1 of this competition, but will need to drop half a second to hit the 57.48 required in this event.

Ciara Schlosshan, who was 3rd in the 200 fly, was just 0.19 seconds off her PB to take 2nd in 58.19, the only other swimmer under 59 seconds. Lucy Grieve was 3rd in 59.05, with all three women chasing additional swims this summer having already qualified for the Scottish team for the Commonwealth Games.

Betsy Wizard, of Northampton and formerly Arkansas, was 4th in a new PB of 59.03. She has dropped 0.45 seconds so far this season, and was just under a second faster than she was at this meet last year.

Emily Richards took 5th in 59.51, about a second off her best of 58.46, with Texas’ Eva Okaro 6th in 59.95. Okaro won the 50 fly last night in a European Championships-worthy time of 25.95.

Men’s 50 Free

Jacob Mills edged out 100 free champ Matt Richards for the top seed in this event, winning the final heat in 22.04 to come within 0.08 seconds of his PB from this meet last year. Mills took 2nd in the 100 free in 48.09 on Thursday, having blasted a time of 47.72 in prelims to drop 0.02 seconds from his best.

Richards was 22.09 this morning, 0.26 seconds off his PB from the 2024 edition of this meet. That ranks him as the 3rd-fastest Brit in history, with neither of the two men ahead of him in attendance in London.

Alex Painter, who paced 3rd in 22.01 at this meet last year, was 5th this morning in 22.34 after taking 8th in the 100 free earlier this week. Gabriel Shepherd, who took 4th in that event in 48.53 after going 48.43 in the heats, sliced 0.24 seconds off his best here to place 6th in 22.43.

Abduljabar Adama was just off his Nigerian record of 22.21 as he touched in 22.37, while Scarborough’s Kieran Grant had the swim of his life to hack 0.64 seconds off his best and tie for 3rd in 22.33. His PB entering this season was 23.42, so he has dropped 1.09 seconds with the final still to come.

Aiden Symons-Brown also set a lifetime best to tie for 3rd, dropping 0.28 seconds from his previous best of 22.61 to clock 22.33.

Women’s 200 IM

Abbie Wood cruised to the top seed in the women’s 200 IM, clocking 2:11.88 to come within a second of the European Championships qualifying time of 2:11.27. She was out fastest to halfway, turning in 1:01.57, and had the fastest breaststroke split in the field at 38.05.

She won this event in a lifetime best of 2:08.85 last year, before placing 6th at the World Championships in 2:09.92. She placed 2nd in the 200 breast on day 3 of these championships, and 7th in the 100 free on the first day.

Leah Schlosshan was 2nd in 2:13.68, just ahead of 400 IM champion Amalie Smith. The pair rank 10th and 9th respectively in the all-time British rankings, with Smith having posted 2:11.07 for silver at the World Junior Championships last summer and Schlosshan swimming 2:11.65 at this meet in 2024.

Freya Colbert was 4th as she swam a controlled race to win the penultimate heat in 2:14.19. She has won the 200 free and 400 free so far this week, and will be seeking to dip under 2:10 for the first time tonight. She was just 33.02 on the freestyle here, so has far more in the tank for tonight.

Theodora Taylor was a second and a half off her Welsh record of 2:13.88, posting 2:15.45 for the 5th seed this morning. She had the fastest opening 50 of anyone in the heats at 28.35, and will look to add this event to her lineup for the Commonwealth Games this summer. She has already gained qualification standards in the 100 free and 200 free, setting a new British age group record of 1:58.31 in the latter.

Men’s 200 Breast

Filip Nowacki swam a smooth 2:10.35 this morning, coming just 0.39 seconds off his season best of 2:09.96, as he claimed the top seed by well over two seconds this morning. He was out in a quick 1:02.82, before closing in 1:07.53.

He has already locked up European Championships qualification in both the 50 breast (27.10) and 100 breast (59.39), taking silver behind Adam Peaty in both events. He owns the European Junior record in this event courtesy of the 2:07.32 he swam to win World Junior gold last summer, a time which also sits just 0.02 seconds off Ross Murdoch‘s British Record.

He will be chasing the European Championships qualification time of 2:09.50 in this event, one he is certainly capable of tonight.

Greg Butler will swim next to him after touching in 2:12.77 this morning, and is the defending champion after clocking 2:10.17 last year. He lowered that time to 2:09.60 in the World Championships semi-finals in Singapore, so is within touching distance of qualifying for Europeans. He was however just over half a second outside the English Commonwealth Games standard of 2:12.21

Christian Ryan of Bath set a new best of 2:12.97 for 3rd, with Stirling’s George Smith 4th in 2:13.21 as he hit the Scottish Commonwealth Games Standard.

Edinburgh’s Josh Mitchell demolished his lifetime best of 2:16.91 with a 2:13.60 for 5th overall. Notably, that came in 0.03 seconds under the nomination time of 2:13.63 for the Scottish team for the Commonwealth Games this summer, and moves him up to #9 on the Scottish all-time rankings.

Virginia Tech’s Oscar Bilbao, who placed 15th at the recent NCAA championships in the 200 breast, was 11th in 2:16.44, while the bronze medalist in both the 50 breast and 100 breast this week, Max Morgan, was 15th in 2:17.67, five seconds off his best.

Men’s 800 Free (Early Heats)

Lucas Bryant of Maidenhead was the fastest swimmer out of the early heats this morning, dropping 11 seconds to clock 8:16.40 and win a fantastic battle with City of Liverpool’s Ollie Lambert in Heat 3. Lambert dropped 13 seconds to go 8:17.16, skipping over the 8:20s entirely.

Makar Yakhno, a 16-year-old who swims for Ukraine, was 3rd in 8:17.25, also a lifetime best, as the heats this morning had a junior complexion. All of the top seven were 18 years or younger, five of them just 16 years old, with Aidan Turner (16), Dominic Workman (16), Lucas Draysey (17), and Sam Sterry (18) all dipping under 8:25.

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