Road to Paris 2024: Swimming world champions, Caudery leads the world, and Reekie races home

Swimming 19 Feb 24

The World Aquatics Championships wrapped up in golden style for Great Britain, as two new names became world champions in another busy week on the road to Paris 2024.

Colbert and Stephens claim world golds

It had been 13 years since a British woman won an individual world swimming title and then two came in the same week.

Laura Stephens became the first woman since Rebecca Adlington’s 800m freestyle gold in 2011 to win world gold as she stormed to 200m butterfly victory.

The 24-year-old earned her first world title with a time of 2:7.35 seconds as she led throughout, holding off the challenges of Helena Bach and Lana Pudar late on to become the first British woman atop a world 200m butterfly podium.

Three days later Stephens was joined as a world champion by Freya Colbert after the 19-year-old starred on the final night in Doha with 400m medley gold.

The 19-year-old clinched her maiden global medal in a time of 4:37.14 seconds to finish ahead of Anastasia Gorbenko and Sara Franceschi thanks to a storming last 50m, having turned for home in third place. 

Colbert finished fifth a year ago but continued her rapid rise to become the first British female 400m medley world medallist since Hannah Miley in 2011 and add a second world medal to the 4x200m freestyle silver she earned earlier in the Championships.

The pair of golds headlined a strong last week in the pool, with Max Litchfield winning silver in the men’s 400m medley, his first world medal, while Ben Proud earned his fifth with 50m freestyle bronze.

What they said

"I can't believe it - all I was thinking about in the last 50m was holding on," said Stephens.

"I think I executed well - it's all about the Olympics this summer and we're still working towards that and this is great, but we've still got some hard work to go.”

Colbert said: “It's so amazing, I'm still in a bit of disbelief. I knew I could do it, that was probably one of the first races that I've gone into at this level with total confidence in myself and my race plan.

"I just trusted that, not following the girls out on the butterfly, keeping true to what I know my strengths are and it really paid off at the end. I am so pleased!

What’s next

The British Swimming Championships gets underway on 2 April and runs until 7 April at the London Aquatics Centre.

Caudery posts pole vault world lead

Molly Caudery was the undisputed star of the UK Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham, as the pole vaulter cleared a world-leading 4.85m.

The 23-year-old added 2cm to her personal best, having previously posted 4.83m in January, and has now added 10cm since last summer’s world championships in Budapest.

The result puts Caudrey joint-fifth on the all-time European women’s indoor list, 2cm behind Tokyo bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw.

The stunning victory in the second city also secures her place at next month’s World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, where she will target a first world medal after finishing fifth in Budapest.

There was also a personal best in the field for Katarina Johnson-Thompson, as the world heptathlon champion posted an indoor best of 13.29m in the shot put.

As KJT's first competitive appearance since being crowned world champion for the second time, it proved ideal preparation as she targets a first Olympic medal at the fourth attempt in Paris.

What they said

“It’s just amazing,” said Caudery. “It’s unbelievable to have opened my season like this.

“I’m so grateful and I’m loving every minute of it.

“My expectations have gone through the roof and I’ve achieved already more than I wanted to.

“That puts me in such a good place for the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow. I think having a home crowd there - the noise in here today was amazing and I think being here, it’s going to be great.”

What’s next

Caudery is one of a number of stars who will compete at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow between 1-3 March.

She will be joined by world 1500m champion Josh Kerr and Olympic 1500m silver medallist Laura Muir, but Johnson-Thompson won’t be competing in Scotland.

Reekie rips it up on the track

While Caudery was putting out statements in the field, Jemma Reekie was running one of her own on the track.

The Scot warmed up for a tilt at the world title in front of her home fans with a storming 800m performance, clocking 1:58.24, the second-fastest time in the world this year and a championship record.

Reekie is now set for a return to Glasgow and the same arena where she set her indoor personal best of 1:57.91 four years ago.

There was also gold for fellow Scot Laura Muir, who took the 3000m crown in a time of 8:58.80.

That was enough to seal her spot in Glasgow, where the the 30-year-old is out to upgrade on the world indoor bronze she won in 2018.

What they said

“I want to win so badly in front of Glasgow and it’s been so long coming,” said Reekie.

“Glasgow has sold out so quickly so it shows how great the championships is going to be.

“I think I do well in that kind of environment. London had a big crowd and Birmingham’s crowd was amazing here and I think I’ll thrive off that in Glasgow and I’m ready for that so I’m excited.”

Muir added: Paris is the main goal this year but I want to go to Glasgow and be competitive.

"It's really special to be going there. To have a global championships [in Glasgow] now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

What’s next

Both Reekie and Muir will be in action at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow for next month’s World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Davies earns European bronze

Sarah Davies earned European bronze at the World Weightlifting Championships, as the 31-year-old lifted 128kg in the clean and jerk.

Davies produced what she needed with her third and final lift after two failed attempts to earn a place on the -71kg podium, earning Great Britain’s first medal of the championships in the process.

A snatch of 98kg meant chances of an overall medal were slim, eventually finishing sixth, but the Preston-native bounced back to take clean and jerk bronze for her second European medal, after -64kg silver in 2021.

What’s next

The IWF World Cup heads to Phuket, Thailand from 31 March to 11 April. The event also serves as a qualifying event for Paris 2024.

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