Duncan Scott Swims 1:55.90 200 IM British Record, 11th Fastest Man In History | SwimSwam

By Ben Dornan on SwimSwam

BRITISH OLYMPIC SELECTION TRIALS

• Wednesday 14 April – Sunday 18 April
• Heats 10am / Finals 7pm local time
• London Aquatics Center
• British Swimming Olympic Selection Policy
• Main selection for the Olympic Games
• Entries
• Results
• Day 1 Prelims Recap / Day 1 Finals Recap

Duncan Scott swam to victory in the men’s 200 IM at the 2021 British Olympic Selection Trials with a 1:55.90 to establish a new British record in the event. Scott became the first British man to get under 1:56 in the event, improving upon Max Litchfield‘s 1:56.64 from World Championships in 2017.

Litchfield set the mark in the prelims of the event back at 2017 Worlds and went on to take fourth place in the event in the finals with a 1:56.86. Scott and Litchfield had nearly identical splits in their respective national record-breaking swims with the exception of the breaststroke leg on which Scott out-split Litchfield by 0.56 seconds.

Comparative Splits

	Butterfly	Backstroke	Breaststroke	Freestyle	Total
Scott 2021 NR	25.38	29.01	33.67	27.84	1:55.90
Litchfield 2017 NR	25.40	29.14	34.23	27.87	1:56.64

Scott’s 1:55.90 was enough to shave 0.75 seconds off his previous PB in the event of 1:56.65 which he swam at 2019 British Swimming Championships. Scott had only swum two sub-1:57 swims before in his life in the form of his 1:56.65 PB and a 1:56.91 at the 2019 World Championships. Scott previously held the Scottish record in the event meaning that he’s now lowered both the British and Scottish records to a 1:55.90.

In the final at 2021 British Trials, Scott’s national record-breaking swim was followed by Joe Litchfield‘s 1:57.74 for silver and former British record holder Max Litchfield with a 1:58.43 for bronze. Since both Scott and Joe Litchfield were under Britain’s Olympic selection cut of 1:58.32, they are likely to have secured a spot on the Olympic squad this summer.

The swim is an improvement upon Scott’s prelim swim and previous season-best of 1:57.77 which was, at the time, good enough for 8th in the world this season. His 1:55.90 British record, however, propels him to the #1 spot globally as the only swimmer to crack 1:56 this year.

2020-2021 LCM Men 200 IM

DuncanGBR
Scott

04/14
1:55.90

2	Wang Shun	CHN	1:56.27	10/01
3	Mitch Larkin	AUS	1:56.32	12/15
4	Phillip Heintz	GER	1:56.42	12/30
5	Alberto Razzetti	ITA	1:57.13	04/03

View Top 26»

Scott’s 1:55.90 secures his spot as history’s 11th fastest performer in the event, surpassing Wang Shun’s mark of 1:56.16 from back in 2017.

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Duncan Scott will be back in action later in the week as he’s entered to race three more events at the meet in the form of the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle in which he is seeded first heading into prelims (47.87 / 1:44.91), along with the 100 butterfly where he is seeded third (52.25).

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