Huge congratulations to each and every one of the 16 Worcester swimmers who competed at this year’s National summer meets
Star of the show was probably Theo Rogers who absolutely smashed it at both the British (top 28) and English competitions, the highlight coming in the 16-year old 50m Butterfly at British with a stunning 25.01 to win Bronze, wow! With places in the British 50m Back and 100m Fly Finals too, plus a further Bronze medal at English on 50m Freestyle, it was a fortnight of superb racing Theo will never forget
Ahead of the Paris Paralympics, and on the back of a gruelling 2-week training camp in Turkey, Becky and Matt Redfern “stretched their legs” in the Multi Class Para races. Bragging rights went to Matt this time…whilst Becky finished a very encouraging 4th in a truly world class 100m Breaststroke field, Matt grabbed himself a thoroughly deserved GB Silver in the 50m Free, very well done
Also making waves at British were Dylan Lewis – a magnificent finalist in the 15’s 50m Back – and Ben Gooch who produced two big Personal Best Times of 25.61 and 57.06 in the 17-year old 50m and 100m Butterfly to make Finals, awesome
Ben maintained that excellent form into the English summer meet where he made Finals again, on both 50m Back and 100m Free. His 100m Free was exceptional, clocking a tidy PB of 53.41 in the Heats to qualify first for the Final and then delivering the perfect race in the Final, turning 5th at the mid-point before bringing the race home in super strong style for a stunning 52.61 and Gold!
Also swimming absolutely beautifully over the fortnight was the uber consistent Asha Mahanta, knocking out a PB in all 5 races she competed in. Her 2.24.32 for 200m Back at British was outstanding, only narrowly missing the Final, whilst in the 16’s 50m and 100m Fly at English, she came so close to getting medals, only 0.47s and 0.23s separating her from a place on the Podium
Bella Hoare deserves huge credit too – swimming by far the heaviest programme of any Worcester swimmer, all six Freestyle events from 50m to 1500m, plus the 200m and 400m Individual Medley as well. After a disappointing swim in her best event the 400 IM, she showed tremendous character to bounce back and managed to make the Final of both the 400m Free and 200m IM – on the same day! – at English. With warm up, racing and swim down, she swam a minimum of 6.5k that day, and a PB of 4.38.20 in the 400 Free was a much deserved reward for all her hard work, dedication and resilience
There were many other fine performances too…
- Despite being just a smidgen off her absolute best, Grace Earp was still amongst the top swimmers at British, missing the 17’s 100m Breaststroke Final by a heart breaking 0.07s in 11th
- After missing the 16’s 200m Breaststroke Final by a mere 0.04s at English, Grace Ryder turned that around brilliantly in the 50m event to grab an excellent 6th
- Lincoln Lewitzkyi, our first ever Junior representative in the Open Water, showed real class – and bravery – in the 5K event (1:18.16), awesome; whilst
- Team-mate Jasmine Kilmartin followed up her brilliant effort in the 7.5K OW (1:47.34) with a magnificent PB in the 1500m Free in the pool just 36 hours later, uber impressive and testimony to both her determination and fitness!
- Xanthe Carrington-Abraham produced 3 out of 4 PB’s at Welsh, her wonderful 33.06 in the 50m Fly qualifying her for the 13’s Final
- 14-year olds debutants Tarek Bluck (British) and Pru Goodison (English) showcased their talents really well, both very clearly demonstrating that they will have much more to come in future years!!
- Brecon Westwood (English) and Abigail Haldane (Welsh), at the end of their tricky GCSE years, acquitted themselves with immense credit, putting in best effort performances in every race
Great job everyone – a massive “whoosh” from the whole Blue and Green army, we are all tremendously proud of your exceptional achievements 😊
Mark Stowe
Head Coach