2024 ROTTERDAM QUALIFICATION MEET
The 2024 Rotterdam Qualification Meet entered day 3 with several British young guns making their presence known on the penultimate night of action.
Gabriel Shepherd led a trio of sub-50-second men in the 100m freestyle, stopping the clock at 49.29 to get to the wall first.
British teammate Jacob Mills was next in line at 49.61 while Spanish swimmer Luca Hoek Le Guenedal rounded out the podium in 49.92.
In the women’s 100m free, it was Milou van Wijk of the host nation who scored the gold, posting 54.51 for a new lifetime best. Entering this competition, the just-turned-20-year-old held a PB of 54.77 from June’s Dutch Championships.
Olympian Freya Anderson snagged silver in 54.92 and Theodora Taylor collected bronze in 55.83.
Anderson is GBR’s 3rd-fastest performer in history, owning a career-quickest outing of 53.31 from 2019. Taylor is known more for her breaststroke prowess, having earned European Junior Championships bronze in the 100m breast and silver in the 200m breast this year in Lithuania.
Of note, Junior Final winner Annabelle Compton of Great Britain posted a time of 56.02, a result which would have rendered her 4th place in the A-Final.
The men’s 100m back saw Cameron Brooker produce the gold medal-winning effort, touching in 55.02. That held a narrow advantage over teammate Jack Skerry who notched 55.17. Samuel Greenbank also landed on the podium, hitting 55.36 for bronze.
Spain grabbed a gold, courtesy of Sara Costa De Vicente in the women’s edition of the 10m back.
Costa De Vicente posted 1:01.69 to eke out the victory ahead of Jinth Engelse who was a hair behind in 1:01.80. Blythe Kinsman, European Junior Championships bronze medalist in the 50m back, bagged bronze here in 1:02.73.
Additional Winners
- GBR’s Edward Marcal Whittles turned in a time of 2:02.08 to win the men’s 200m IM.
- Estella Tonrath Nollgren of Spain was the women’s 200m IM victor, producing 2:15.75 for gold.
