Press Release

Triple gold medal haul

Monday, August 4 2008

The results from the final day of the asa National Youth Championships 2008 at Sheffield did not disappoint with a number of fantastic swims by a plethora of talented swimmers. Aichieng Ajjulu-Bushell (Plymouth), Lauren Collins (Birmingham), Charlotte Woolliscroft (Shiverers) and Andrew Haslett (Warrender) left Sheffield with three gold medals each.

The longest event of these Championships, the male and female 3,000m, saw some spectacular swims with all the winners having clear margins from their competitors. In the girls 14/15 years 3,000m freestyle Sarah Lucas (Gallica) won in 36:03.66 with Naomi Croot (Swansea) swimming one second slower to finish in 37:06.13. Lucas said "I was happy with my swim, it's my first competitive 3,000m in the pool. I've done 5,000m open water before but this is different, my goggles steamed up which they don't do in open water."

Winning her third National title of the 2008 Championships, Charlotte Woolliscroft (Shiverers) was over a minute ahead of Aisha Thornton (Warrington) in the women's 16/17 years 3000m and in doing so recorded a twenty second personal best (pb). Woolliscroft won in 34:25.19. She will soon depart for Beijing on the Olympic Ambition programme where she will get to watch some events, visit the Olympic Village and soak up some of the atmosphere in preparation for London 2012 Olympics in four years time where she hopes to compete.

Pleased with his swim in the men's 15/16 years 3,000m, Nathan Barr of Wigan BEST won in 34:17.69. Barr will be swimming in the Open Water Festival at Holme Pierre Point, Nottingham next weekend where he hopes to win the age group 5,000m event.

Winning his third medal of the Championships, and his second gold medal, James Gibson of Manchester Aquatics had a goal of beating the thirty three second mark in the men's 17/18 years 3,000m. Finishing in 32:59.30 Gibson said "winning this event is a bonus, I was comfortable up to 1500m then tried to push harder in the second half of the race." With most of the distance swimmers having ambition to focus on swimming open water, Gibson said he would like to keep his options open.

Jonathan Hill (Plymouth Leander) added the men's 15/16 years 400m individual medley (IM) to the 200m IM he won earlier in the week. Hill had a good lead on his nearest competitor on the butterfly and backstroke legs however his team mate David Gregory had a strong breaststroke leg which narrowed Hill's winning margin, but after a strong freestyle swim Hill won in 4:30.27 with David Gregory second in 4:32.99.

A surprised and happy Andrew Haslett of Warrender picked up his third national title by adding the men's 17/18 years 400m IM in a time of 4:29.13 to the 200m breaststroke and 200m backstroke he picked up earlier in the week. "I didn't expect to go home with three National titles and a handful of personal bests, I've only been back in training for four months after having nine months of interrupted training due to a groin injury which subsequently required an operation" said Haslett.

Winning her first national title, girls 14/15 years 100m backstroke during her second year competing at Nationals an elated Amy McVeigh (Windsor) attributed her recent success to her new coach Matt Heathcock. "Last year I came sixtieth and swam in the outside lane in the first heat, I've never been in a National semi-final or final so to win is great." She won in a time of 1:04.94.

Lauren Collins (City of Birmingham) also picked up her third National title, this time in the girls 16/17 years 100m backstroke in 1:03.85. "I've medalled in all events so I'm pleased with my achievements" stated a reflective Collins "it's my last age group nationals, I've won a medal every year since I was twelve. I'm on holiday until September which I'm looking forward to, then it will be a case of just training hard and seeing what happens in the senior events."

Men's 15/16 years 100m breaststroke was won by Plymouth Leander swimmer Anthony O'Driscoll in 1:06.40. In the men's 17/18 years 100m breaststroke local swimmer Max Partridge (City of Sheffield), while waiting to assume the starting position stood with one foot on his block and faced into the centre of the line up, attempting to psyche out his fellow competitors. This clearly worked for Partridge despite him having had a challenging year due to suffering from a back injury. "I was unable to train from November to February so I'm pleased with my time of 1:04.31 considering I've missed a lot of training and competitions."

Women's 14/15 years 100m breaststroke was won by Achieng Ajulu-Bushell (Plymouth Leander) in 1:11.61 who added  this title to the 100m freestyle she won earlier in the event. Later she went on to add the women's 14/15 years 50m freestyle in 26.94 and in doing so gained her third title. "These Championships have been amazing; I'm on top of the world. Again I would like to thank everyone at Plymouth."

Corrie Scott (East Kilbride) added the women's 14/15 years 200m IM to the longer 400m IM, which she won in 2:21.06 "I'm happy with the way things have gone and I'm now looking forward to my holiday", said Scott. Fellow Scottish swimmer Megan Gilchrist also added the women's 16/17 years 200m IM to her 400m freestyle win. "I don't swim medleys and I don't train medleys, my backstroke and breaststroke are poor but my freestyle and fly aren't bad. I only swam the event to fill in a space I had in my weeks programme" concluded Gilchrist.

In the multi disability men's 100m freestyle Simon Miller from Aquabears, Rochdale broke the S8 British record in 59.27.

At the start of the race Braxton Timm (City of Sheffield) had a goal of going under 57 seconds in the men's 15/16 years 100m butterfly. After the race where he clocked 55.78, beating his personal best by a margin of couple of seconds.

The older age group, men's 17/18 years 100m butterfly, Ewan Johnston (Warrender) collected his second gold medal in a time of 55.68."I just missed the men's 17/18 years 200m freestyle but I was more confident about being able to get a medal in the butterfly. After competing in the 200m freestyle I was tired but I wanted to win so had to pretend I was fresh", a strategy that clearly worked for Johnston.

The event finished with the 4x100m medley relays, which saw Plymouth Leander win both the ladies and men's events. The girls team described their win as being the best moment in their life, amazing, great progress and awesome. "We would all like to say a big thank you to all of the coaches they have put so much effort into helping us achieve and be the best." The men's team also wished to thank the Plymouth Leander coaches "its been so good, amazing, we can't believe it. Winning both relays is such a high for all of us to finish the season on."

Plymouth Leander won the top club award and top men's award at the Championships with Ealing taking the title as top girls club.