Already a double European junior champion and World Junior silver medallist last year, Amalie Smith has added another milestone to her rapidly growing career. At just 16 years old, the British swimmer produced a statement performance at the AP Race London meet, setting a new European junior record in the 200m individual medley with a time of 2:10.32.
Amalie Smith Continues to Rewrite the Record Books
Amalie Smith’s weekend in London could hardly have gone any better. In the final of the 200m individual medley, the Brit lowered her own national age-group record for 16-year-olds to 2:10.32, shaving more than half a second off her previous best. More importantly, the swim saw her break the European junior record while also eclipsing a British age-group mark for 17-year-olds that had stood for more than thirteen years.
Just a few hours earlier, Smith had already claimed victory in the 400m individual medley in 4:35.18, setting a new meet record and delivering a performance of genuine world-class calibre. The time improved on the personal best she had posted at the British Championships and further underlined the remarkable progression she has made since winning her World Junior medals in 2025.
In the 2025-2026 world rankings for the women’s 400m individual medley, Smith currently sits sixth in the world thanks to her London swim. She is also the highest-ranked European swimmer in the event this season. Behind her, the next-best European is Spain’s Alba Vazquez Ruiz, who sits seventeenth in the world rankings and was beaten by Smith at the AP Race meet.
Despite her new European junior record in the 200m individual medley, Smith will not compete in the event at this summer’s European Championships in Paris. At the British selection trials in April, both Abbie Wood and Freya Colbert posted faster times and secured the two available spots for the continental championships.
However, the British teenager will still have a major opportunity to shine in Paris through the 400m individual medley, the event she won at the national championships. And unlike the 200m, she will arrive there carrying genuine status as Europe’s leading contender in the discipline — all at just 16 years of age.
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