RTW Monson swimmers step up at British Championships

An impressive thirteen swimmers from RTW Monson Swimming Club qualified to compete at this year’s Speedo Aquatics Great British Championships at the London Aquatic Centre in the first week of April. The stakes were high as these events are the selection trials for Great Britain's Olympic, Paralympic and European Junior teams, who will compete in Paris, Vilnius and Vienna later on this year. For any athlete to gain qualification for the highest level of domestic meet is an incredible achievement and a huge congratulations must go to all RTW qualifiers.

Fern Sneddon, 18, was back with a bang after a long recovery following surgery at the start of this season, performed brilliantly in the 50, 100 & 400m Freestyle and 100m Breaststroke. Finishing 13th, 24th & 17th in the Freestyle events.

First time qualifier, 15 year old Maddie Hind swam well in the 100m Butterfly, Evie Stockdale, 17 swam in her first British Champs in the 100 & 200m Backstroke, Denys Mialkovskyi, 16, raced a big program of the 100 & 200m Backstroke, 200m IM & 200m & 400m Freestyle, 16 year old Hannah Murphy lowered her personal best on the 200m IM and also swam well in the 50m & 100m Freestyle events. Chengze Duan, 16, swam in the 100m Butterfly where he once again lowered his personal best by over a half of a second to book his place in his first junior final, where he finished fourth in the final and sixth best Junior in Britain.

Another first-time qualifier, 14 year-old Amalie Smith had the most races out of any of the members of the club, competing in the 100 & 200m Breaststroke, 200 & 400m IM and the 200m Butterfly. Amalie burst into the Championships on day one, lowering her personal best for the 200m Butterfly by two seconds and securing a place into the Junior final, where she swam a brave race, leading from the front most of the way to be closed down in the final 50m, touching the wall in second place and taking a further two seconds of her personal best time set earlier in the heats. In the Individual Medley heats Amalie booked herself into the B final (top 16 swimmers in Britain), against much more senior swimmers. In the 400m IM she lowered her personal best to win the B final and post a time that saw her placed sixth overall in Britain. In the 200m IM B final, Amalie stormed down the last 50m to touch the wall in second place and post a consideration time for the European Junior selection, coming in tenth overall in Britain.

Aran Bissett (200m IM & 100m Backstroke), Emilia Oliver (200m IM), Jess Gable (200m Backstroke) and Tom Hawkins (200m Butterfly) all returned for their second year at the British Championships and still at the tender age of 16 & 17 years old this year. Hayden Annan also returned to the British Championships and made his very first Junior Final (18 & under) finishing a very credible fifth place, after swimming the heat and final tactically two different ways which produced the same time. It’s a great opportunity to learn at this level and this exposure will only stand Hayden and the other swimmers in good stead. Hayden also swam the longest races in the Olympic program the 800m & 1500m dismantling his previous best times to finish 17th & 16th overall in Britain and clocking in as the third and sixth best junior in those races.

Callie-Ann Warrington, 23, swam well in the heats to book a place in the Para Paris finals in the 50m, 100m Freestyle & 100m Butterfly. The 50m Freestyle final saw her lower her personal best and collect the silver medal, and in the 100m Freestyle Callie-Ann swam another personal best to finish fourth. Her main focus for this meet was the 100m Butterfly and after a tricky heat swim she managed to secure another personal best in a stacked field where a world record was broken to finish in fourth place and, more importantly, Callie-Ann swam under the Great Britain nomination time for the Paralympics in Paris.

It proved a great Championships for the club, seeing a total of three Junior Finals, two B Finals and three Paris Para Finals throughout the week. To qualify for these championships is a magnificent achievement in itself, let alone to make finals and compete amongst the fastest swimmers in Britain.

Head Coach Adam Naylor said “To have thirteen athletes competing at this level of meet is a massive achievement and one that I’m immensely proud to be a part of. The athletes equipped and conducted themselves well throughout the week and were a pleasure to work with. We now switch our focus to finishing the season strongly at the British Summer Championships and English National Summer Meet.”