Former Linton Village College pupil Angharad Evans, from Little Abington, near Haverhill, smashes British record ahead of Olympic Games
West Suffolk Swimming Club (WSSC) member Angharad Evans smashed the British 100m breaststroke record in the recent AP Race London International to become the first British woman to swim the event in under one minute and six seconds.
Completing the heats in second position, Evans, who is from Little Abington, near Haverhill, dominated the final to take the gold medal from the Dutch and Estonian national record holders – who took silver and bronze respectively - with a time of one minute and 5.54 seconds.
The 20-year-old, who is set to compete for Team GB at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, also bettered Molly Renshaw’s standing British long course record by 0.67 seconds.
As well as becoming a new record holder, racing at the AP Race London International 2024 at the London Aquatics Centre in Stratford the weekend before last, Evans won silver medals and set new personal bests in the 200m and 50m breaststroke finals.
Now racing out of the University of Stirling, though still retaining her WSSC membership, she completed the competition as third-placed female athlete overall, taking a purse of £2,500 in the process.
In April Evans, who is a former Linton Village College pupil, fulfilled a lifelong dream of Olympic selection for Team GB for the upcoming games in Paris.
In qualifying for the squad at the recent British Swimming Championships, Evans had missed Renshaw’s Olympic nomination time by just 0.06 seconds.
However, having won the 100m breaststroke final at the 2024 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships earlier in the month, she learnt she had still been included in the squad for the Games which get under way in late July.
Also competing at the prestigious Adam Peaty-backed AP Race London International last month from WSSC were Elizabeth Wright and Thomas Williams.
Williams was delighted with a new personal best (PB) dropping 0.78 seconds on his previous benchmark time in the 50m freestyle.
Though recovering from illness and off her best times, Haverhill’s Wright did exceptionally well to qualify for the B final from an international field.
