Scott and Guy share gold in dramatic 200m Freestyle final

After four lengths of wild, world-class freestyle swimming, there was nothing to separate two giants of British sport, Guy and Scott matching each other in fast finishes after an eye-opening first 150m from fellow Olympic champion Matt Richards, who ultimately took bronze.

That bonkers curtain call followed on from a night of memorable moments, as Angharad Evans broke her own British record to clinch the Women's 100m Breaststroke title, Oliver Morgan completed his third consecutive men's backstroke clean sweep, the top three in the multi-classification Women's 100m Breaststroke all made their classification's Para Swimming World Championships mark, and there was yet another record for the meet for Faye Rogers.

It was the blue-riband Men's 200m Freestyle that stole the show, though, with three-time Olympic gold medallist James Guy reflecting with a smile afterwards about sharing the top step of the podium with Duncan Scott.

"I've never, ever tied for a win before! To go like that with Duncan, we were in the call room before showing each other what songs we were listening to - it's that kind of relationship where we walk to the pool together, we compete against each other, have dinner together, have breakfast together," he said.

"We've been chatting all week like it's a little holiday, it's been quite nice, so to do that at the end of the week and go head to head like that is great. It's always good fun. For that minute and a half of hell, we want to win, and that's the beauty of it.

"The relay looks good. For April, that final, that's pretty good, so it's looking good for the summer. I'm off next week, going to Mallorca with my fiancee, checking out the wedding venue - I think she wants some wedding time now. It's been swimming all week, now it's that time!"

As for Duncan, it meant a third British gold to round out his week, adding to his 200m Butterfly and 200m Individual Medley titles

"Me and Jim have been racing for so long, it's a pleasure always going head-to-head in the last event, you're always thinking about it all week. I was just really happy to be in there, I didn't quite know where I'd be at in this meet, I think I've surprised myself quite a lot and I'm really happy with that, just happy to be involved to be honest, so I'm buzzing with that," he said.

"It was really good fun, me and Jimmy have raced each other for so long, and Matt in there as well. Good to see Jack [McMillan, Olympic gold medallist from 4x200m Freestyle Relay heats] there as well [in fourth], he’s unbelievable in training and makes me accountable in everything I do. I've got a lot of admiration and respect to all the boys in there.

"This is always the last event here but at an international meet not only is the 200m Freestyle early on, but the 4x200m Free Relay is early, so it is important that we don’t just have a fast four, fifth and sixth is important as well, so we have depth in the team. We now need to make sure from now and to the summer we need to work as individuals on what we need to sort out so we can come together and fight for that gold again. We’ve done it so well over the last few years but when you're out in front as a team there’s a target on your back."

The multi-classification (MC) Men's 200m Freestyle was dominated by Will Ellard, the Paralympic champion going well inside the S14 consideration time for September's Para Swimming World Championships in Singapore, with fellow S14 athletes Dylan Broom and Mark Tompsett following home in silver and bronze respectively.

"Getting that Singapore time by around a second, I'm quite surprised with the time really as I didn't really feel I went for it and thought I was quite slow as I didn't have anyone next to me like I did [in the integrated heats] this morning, but obviously I paced it a lot better and there's load more improvement to be had there," he said.

And after spending time signing t-shirts thrown from young supporters in the packed crowd, he added: "Having the t-shirts thrown down to be signed is a nice feeling, for people to be interested in para-swimming and recognising us as athletes for what we do."

Earlier in the evening, Angharad Evans lowered her own British Women's 100m Breaststroke record with a perfectly-paced swim to take a second gold of the meet and swim her second World Championships selection time.

Already in on the 200m Breaststroke, the University of Stirling competitor led at the turn and then put together a really strong back end to touch the wall in 1:05.37, two tenths inside her previous best. Behind her, Edinburgh University duo Kara Hanlon and Anna Morgan claimed silver and bronze.

"This seems to be a very special pool for me, either very lucky or something is working in Stirling! Either way, it’s such an honour to be crowned British champion two years in a row. I have the 200m to add to the collection as well this time, and to break a British record in April is just such a good start to the season and we’re barely half way through to Singapore," said Angharad.

There were a hat-trick of Para Swimming World Championship consideration times broken across the podium in the MC 100m Breaststroke, which was won by Paralympic gold medallist Rebecca Redfern.

The SB13 racer led the field home from lane four to secure a huge 993 points, with Iona Winnifrith (SB7) registering 869 points for the silver with a strong swim, and Brock Whiston (SB8) completing the podium on 858 for bronze - all putting themselves in contention for a World Championship appearance in September.

"That was such a surprise - it's two seconds quicker than Paris so to come out tonight and do that, I guess with no pressure it just feels really good," said Redfern.

For a third consecutive Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, every men's open backstroke final has been won by Oliver Morgan. He attacked the final of the 200m Backstroke in eye-opening style, racing into a massive lead at halfway and backing himself to hold on as Olympic medallist Luke Greenbank built into the race and clawed back the deficit.

Still, Morgan had it in him to hold firm and win gold inside the 1:57.28 Singapore requirement mark in a new PB of 1:55.55, while Greenbank's silver was also inside that Singapore mark.

"The head was a bit sore after that! The TV producer just said I'm the only person he's ever seen sit down in a medal ceremony, the legs were pretty sore! But I was happy to take it out there, the last two years it's been coming back over that back 50m, so I just wanted to hit it from the front and see how the body coped. It was a PB, trying something new, can't complain," he said.

"The way everyone else is going in Britain in backstroke, it's really special. It was the fastest 100m field we've ever had in Britain on Thursday, so again, it's pushing the limit and it's really nice to see everyone putting in a big shift, especially when it comes to relays when you get to a Worlds and Olympics. It's good to see, and I'm super happy with it all."

The night began with the fast-paced Men's 50m Butterfly contests. Ben Proud doubled his golden tally for the meet in the open final, ahead of Jacob Peters and Joshua Gammon, while Bruce Dee took the multi-classification crown. After that, Amelie Blocksidge led from the off to control the Women's 800m Freestyle final and claim victory, with Fleur Lewis in silver, just as the two did in 2024. Lucy Fox took bronze.

And in among all this were some action-packed Women's 100m Freestyle finals. Faye Rogers was once again triumphant at the end of a quite outstanding meet for her, 861 points securing her the crown ahead of fellow S10 competitor Callie-Ann Warrington on 811. Scarlett Humphrey broke the S11 British record in 1:10.31 to take bronze, with Rogers having reset the S10 British record earlier in the day.

The open final, meanwhile, was a thrilling spectacle. While Scott and Guy were inseparable in the Men's 200m Freestyle, there was an agonising 0.01s between Freya Anderson and Eva Okaro at the death in this one, with both centre-lane swimmers locked in an intriguing tussle from 25m onwards.

Ultimately, it was Anderson who got the touch for gold, with Okaro taking silver after 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly titles. Freya Colbert took the bronze.

Those results all rounded out a memorable Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, packed with some close racing, plenty of records and a bunch of World Championship places secured. The World Championship teams will be confirmed in due course, as momentum now builds towards Singapore this summer across the swimming and para-swimming programmes.

Full results from day six of the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships are here.