McMillan and Scott race to golds in Lublin

[Article images courtesy of European Aquatics]

The opening three days of the 2025 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Lublin, Poland, has yielded six medals for the British team as a pair of freestyle bronze medals for Freya Colbert and a backstroke silver for Katie Shanahan add to medals McMillan and Scott put on the board.

Medal opportunities on day one of the meet saw McMillan snap up gold in the Men’s 400m Freestyle, just minutes after Colbert had produced a huge personal best to take bronze in the Women’s 400m Freestyle contest.

The University of Stirling man – who had teammate Scott for company in the final – paced his effort superbly to take the lead in the final lengths and hold off the challenge of Olympic Champion Lukas Märtens (GER). Scott touching in seventh overall.

“Coming into this I was in really good shape,” McMillan said. “But actually do it on the stage, on the day, is very special.

“It just gives me more confidence, the training I am doing is clearly working, so that’s good to know at the start of this block heading towards the 2028 Olympic Games.”

Katie Shanahan’s silver medal in the Women’s 200m Backstroke provided the shining moment for GB on the second evening of finals action. The 21-year-old produced a lifetime best that took her up to third in the all-time British rankings as she stepped onto the continental podium in Lublin.

“I’m really happy with that – my coach Ben [Higson] reminded me it was my first PB in two years so that’s almost a win in itself,” said Shanahan.

“I would have loved to have stood on top of that podium but a PB and a silver medal, I can’t complain with that, and it’s definitely started my week of strong with a lot of races to come.”

An electric set of 200m Freestyle races on Thursday evening added a medal of each colour to the GB haul.

The Men’s event again saw Scott and McMillan racing against each other – with Matt Richards unfortunate to be eliminated at the heats stage despite posting the thirds fastest swim due to the European Aquatics two per nation rule.

Going out fast, Scott spearheaded the race from the 50m mark through to the touch with McMillan providing pressure on his shoulder for all eight lengths of the 25m pool as the pair delivered a one-two finish. Scott’s gold here completes his European Short Course collection in this 200m Freestyle event having won bronze at Copenhagen 2017 and silver at Glasgow 2019.

“It’s pretty cool coming one-two with my training partner,” said Scott. “He won the 400m and it’s good to be there together on the podium, which is pretty special.

“I get to see what he does day in and day out, so I knew he was going to be pretty good at this meet given he way he’s been training. He’s been swimming really well and for him to medal in both events is just class, it’s good to see. He’s been great being part of the team for so long and now we are getting to see him have individual success.”

Freya Colbert had set a new lifetime best in her Women’s 200m Freestyle semi-final, and equalled that swim in taking a second bronze in Lublin, just edging Freya Anderson out of the medal places in fourth.

“Definitely positive to be on the podium and after swimming such a quick time last night, to back that up and go something similar is really positive,” said Colbert.

“It wasn’t quite the swim I wanted - I had the British record in my sights, I’ve been quite open about that, but it’s still a good way to end the short course season with a good swim and showing consistency.”

Meanwhile on route to Friday nights finals, Oliver Morgan and Filip Nowacki both set new records in the pool.

Morgan posting a 49.55 in the Men’s 100m Backstroke heats to topple a 17-year-old British record, while Nowacki lowered the European Junior record in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke to 2:03.75 as he navigated through the rounds to a maiden senior international final.

Action from the 2025 European Short Course Swimming Championships continues up until Sunday 7th December, with live streaming on www.aquaticsgb.com/live and across Eurovision Sport platforms.

Great Britain Team Results:

[*Eliminated in the heats due to the European Aquatics two-per-nation rule]

Women’s 400m Freestyle: Freya Colbert - BRONZE

Men’s 400m Freestyle: Jack McMillan – GOLD, Duncan Scott – 7th, Max Litchfield – 20th

Women’s 50m Butterfly: Eva Okaro – 14th

Women’s 100m Breaststroke: Angharad Evans – 6th

Men’s 100m Breaststroke: Filip Nowacki – 12th, Greg Butler – 30th

Women’s 200m Backstroke: Katie Shanahan – SILVER

Men’s 200m Backstroke: Luke Greenbank – 4th, Jack Skerry – 9th, Oliver Morgan – 11th in heats*

Men’s 100m Individual Medley: Tom Dean – 10th

Men’s 200m Freestyle: Duncan Scott – GOLD, Jack McMillan – SILVER, Matt Richards – 3rd in heats*, Max Litchfield – 39th

Women’s 200m Freestyle: Freya Colbert – BRONZE, Freya Anderson – 4th, Emily Richards – 14th in heats*

Women’s 100m Butterfly: Emily Richards – 12th

Women’s 200m Breaststroke: Angharad Evans – Qualified 2nd into final

Men’s 200m Breaststroke: Filip Nowacki – Qualified 6th into final, Tom Dean – 13th, Greg Butler – 14th in heats*

Women’s 100m Backstroke: Lauren Cox – Qualified 1st into final, Katie Shanahan – 11th

Men’s 100m Backstroke: Oliver Morgan – Qualified 1st into final, Jack Skerry – 9th, Luke Greenbank – 9th in heats*

Women’s 200m Individual Medley: Katie Shanahan – Qualified 3rd into semi-final, Freya Colbert – Qualified 8th into semi-final

Men’s 200m Individual Medley: Duncan Scott – Qualified 1st into semi-final, Max Litchfield – Qualified 7th into semi-final, Tom Dean - DSQ

Women’s 100m Freestyle: Eva Okaro – Qualified 1st into semi-final, Freya Anderson – Qualified 9th into semi-final

Men’s 100m Freestyle: Matt Richards – Qualified 3rd into semi-final, Jack McMillan – 18th

Find full competition scheduling and results on the European Aquatics website.