Whittle at the double as Brits win 17 medals at Flanders Swimming Cup

Jacob Whittle grabbed two golds as British swimmers came away with 17 medals from the Flanders Swimming Cup in Belgium.

Squads from the Bath National Centre and City of Norwich Swimming club were amongst the teams who sent swimmers out to Belgium as they continued their preparation for April’s British Swimming Championships.

It was a successful three days for the likes of Whittle and Tom Dean who both put in winning displays ahead of next month’s World Aquatics Championships in Doha.

Whittle took victory in both the Men’s 50m and 100m Freestyle finals whilst reigning Olympic Champion Dean took the 200m crown.

Whittle’s double gold began on the opening night when he was the only swimmer to break the 23-second mark in the Men’s 50m Freestyle.

He recorded a time of 22.73 to earn gold in a strong start to the calendar year for the teenager.

He returned to the pool for the 100m final on Saturday where he led an all British and Bath top three.

Whittle and Dean were split by just 0.06 of a second as Whittles’ time of a 49.08 gave him the victory.

Ed Mildred completed the podium, finishing around a second further back with a time of 50.22

23-year-old Dean clocked in with an impressive time of 1:46.35 to secure gold by almost three seconds in the 200m event.

He finished ahead of his Bath teammate Kieran Bird who edged out Canadian Jeremy Bagshaw for the silver medal spot.

Tokyo Olympian Bird added to his time of 1:49.70 in the 200m by winning the 400m Freestyle final.

His winning time of 3:54.39 gave him the edge by just four-tenths of a second as he hopes to repeat his 2021 effort of winning the British 400m title in April.

Holly Hibbott impressed on the women’s side, taking away two medals from the trip to Antwerp.

She closed out the competition with the 400m Freestyle title after a bronze in the 100m Butterfly.

There were also gold medals for Jacob Peters (Men’s 50m Butterfly), Jono Adam (100m Backstroke) and for Mildred himself in the Men’s 100m Butterfly.

You can find all the British medallists from the event below and you can re-watch all the Flanders Swimming Cup action on the zwemfed YouTube channel here.