It was crunch time last weekend for British swimmers dreaming of competing at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris in July.
The Speedo Aquatics GB Swimming Championships took place from April 2-7 at the London Aquatics Centre and helped decide the makeup of the British swimming team for Paris 2024.
Alex Cohoon from Fairford had a bitter-sweet weekend successfully qualifying in the Men’s 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay alongside Tom Dean, Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott, but very narrowly missing out on an individual place at the Paris Olympics in July.
Twenty one year old, Alex certainly captured the crowd’s attention by setting the early pace in the final of the Men’s 100m Freestyle Relay. But British record holder, Matthew Richards was always in contention and came in first with a 47.84 – inside the 48.04 nomination standard – while Scott and Dean charged back claiming silver and bronze respectively.
With Cohoon swimming brilliantly for fourth and attaining a personal best of 48.2, the combined times of that quartet ensured all will be going to Paris after successfully qualifying for a place in the Men’s 4 x 100m Freestyle team.
“That race was so high-pressured,” said Alex. “I am absolutely thrilled to have successfully qualified to represent my country at the Paris Olympics.
“Obviously, I am disappointed not to have got through for the Men’s individual 50m freestyle. I came third against Olympians Ben Proud and Matt Richards and even managed another personal best of 21.9, but narrowly missed out on an Olympic individual place by just 400th of a second.”
Cohoon, who also swam brilliantly last month at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, turned in the fifth fastest outing of his career in the 50m freestyle to win top prize. He was also impressive in the 100m sprint where he logged a time of 48.79 as the sole competitor in the field under the 50-second threshold. He also established a new lifetime best with his performance, dipping under the 49-second barrier for the first time. Entering the competition, his personal best sat at 49.10. Cohoon is now GBR’s 12th best 100m freestyle performer of all time.
