The 2023 British Para-swimming meet was held at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield 16-19 March. The 4 day event was held in parallel with the British leg of the World Para-swimming Series. Emerging talent from Great Britain were therefore able to compete alongside leading names in the international para-swimming circuit.
7 of our classified S14 swimmers from Down Syndrome GB took part in the event, supported by coaches from their home clubs. The results are as follows:
Cerys McCrindle (South Ayrshire Swim Team)
Cerys competed in the 400m freestyle which was the first time she had competed in this event in a long course pool since the 2019 Down Syndrome European Championships in Sardinia. She also took part in the 100m butterfly but after a disappointing DQ in this event she was pleased to have competed and will take away what she has learned to prepare for this years Trisome Games in September. Cerys enjoyed the event and was inspired by competing alongside other para-swimmers.
Ellen Stephenson (Richmond Dales ASC)
Ellen competed in the 100m backstroke, 200 individual medley, 100m breaststroke and 200m freestyle. Ellen swam 2 pbs in the 100m backstroke and 200m freestyle breaking her own Mosaic Down Syndrome Open long course World records in both of these events. The highlight of the competition for Ellen was obtaining a place in the National (GBR) final of the 200m freestyle and finishing 9th. Ellen learned a lot from the experience and is already looking forward to next years event!
Harvey Stonebank (Richmond Dales ASC)
Harvey competed in the 100m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley. Harvey swam pbs in the 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 200 individual medley and broke his existing Mosaic Down Syndrome long course European and Senior World records in the 100m freestyle and set the European and Senior World Mosaic long course records in the 100m breaststroke, 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley. A busy and successful few days for Harvey!
Jake Vicars (Richmond Dales ASC)
Jake took part in the 100m freestyle and 200 individual medley events. He swam pb’s in both events, knocking 3.5 seconds off his 100m freestyle and 2 seconds off the 200m individual medley. Jake was really happy with his performances.
Will Browning (Tadcaster SC)
Will achieved 3 long course pbs from his 4 events taking a massive 19.08 seconds off his existing 100m backstroke time! He also brought his 200m freestyle time down by 2.4 seconds and his 100m fly time down by 7.4 seconds. A very successful meet for Will, achieving more qualifying times for the Trisome Games in September.
Will Lake (Richmond Dales ASC)
Will took part in 3 events- the 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly. Will swam around his best times and used the competition as experience to prepare for the Trisome Games. He really enjoyed the meet and learned a lot from taking part in the national competition.
Zac Lacey (Seaclose SC)
World Champion 200m butterfly swimmer Zac took part in 2 events the 200m freestyle and the 100m butterfly. He obtained a new long course pb in the 200m freestyle and was just outside his pb in the 100m butterfly. Zac said it was really good experience to be swimming with the worlds best para-swimmers and is looking forward to next years event.
Down Syndrome Swimming GB were extremely proud to have 7 of their swimmers taking part in this prestigious high level competition. Thank you to all their coaches and poolside support for making this possible.
Kathryn Stephenson.
(Parent/Team Doctor)