Aimee Willmott sets pace for 200m IM gold

Aimee Willmott set the pace for an exciting race in the 200m Individual Medley, taking gold on day four of the Swim England National Winter Meet 2017.

Though she didn’t go out as fast as some of her rivals, she had taken the lead by the 100m mark.

She held on to her dominant position until the end, touching in 2:12.05. This was almost a second under the consideration time for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Willmott commented: “It was really exciting. Coming into the 200m IM I was looking to get close to my best.

“I’ve been a little bit off that for a while so getting the win was the important thing and just see how fast I could swim.

“I felt good this morning and relaxed in the freestyle leg so I knew I had it in me today.”

Abbie Wood of Loughborough Uni was second to the wall. The 18-year-old of Loughborough Uni gave Wilmott a run for her money, touching in a PB 2:12.49 – also under the consideration time of 2:13.00.

Third place went to Hannah Miley of Aberdeen in 2:13.15. In the B final, Tori Sopp of Wirral Metro swam a personal best time of 2:18.21 for the gold medal.

James Wilby completes breaststroke treble

James Wilby of Loughborough National Centre took his third breaststroke title of the meet, winning gold in the 50m Breaststroke.=

The 24-year-old had already made the Commonwealth consideration time for the 100m Breaststroke on day two, and impressed again in the 50m. He took the win with a new PB time of 27.58.

“That was really good,” said Wilby. “Fiftys are a bit of an unusual one for me as they’ve been a bit hit and miss in the past.

“I’d never been under 27 and I’ve managed to do four times this week, so I’m really happy with that.

“I was pretty confident after the 100m Breast particularly as I was going out with 27s. This one isn’t so much of a priority for me so I just wanted to go out and see how fast I could go.”

Second place went to Lawrence Palmer of Putteridge with 27.71. Lewis Clifford-Stephenson of Barking and Dagenham with 27.71.

• Click here to see full results from the Swim England National Winter Championships 2017.