Shepherd takes Women's MC Freestyle final

On the opening night of the ASA National Summer Championships 2016, Keira Shepherd set a PB to win the Women’s MC 100m Freestyle final while  Pietro Lombardo won gold in the 13/14yrs 100m Breaststroke.

MC 100m Freestyle finals

In the Men’s MC 100m Freestyle final, six swimmers swam PBs including the top three swimmers. It was a close race between all of the swimmers, with S14 swimmer Jordan Catchpole finishing top with a total of 781 BDP.

The women’s event was also very close. Shepherd, who qualified second fastest in the morning’s heats, swam a PB to claim the gold medal with a time of 1:08.96. The Nova Centurion S9 swimmer was awarded 695 BDP for her swim.

“It feels great to get gold,” said Shepherd. “I wasn’t expecting it at all. A really good PB and my best achievement so far.”

Men’s 100m Breaststroke finals

The Men’s 13/14 yrs was a fantastic race to watch, which saw Pietro Lombardo of Ealing lower his PB for the second time of the day. He qualified fastest in session one heats and went 1:10.90 for the gold medal in his age group.

City of Liverpool’s James Pettener took the 15yrs age group gold, with over a second lead over the rest of the field.

Pettener commented on his performance: “It was such a close race. When I touched the wall, it was great when I looked up and saw the one next to my name.

“The crowd were cheering and when you think about everyone watching back home it’s a great feeling.”

Rhys Taylor of Nova Centurion smashed his PB by almost three seconds in the 16yrs 100m Breaststroke, taking the gold medal in style with a time of 1:07.35.

Women’s 100m Breaststroke finals

In the 14yrs age group, there was almost nothing to separate City of Manchester’s Charlotte Hulme and City of Birmingham’s Alisha Stephenson. In the last few metres, Hulme managed to edge into first place and touched in 1:15.16 for gold and a new PB. Stephenson claimed the silver with her PB time of 1:15.74.

It was almost PBs all round for in the 16yrs age group. Eight out of 10 swimmers lowered their times. Despite the great swims from all the athletes, it was Hatfield’s Laura Copping who took the gold. She slashed two seconds from her previous PB, touching 1:14.42.

Copping said: “It was a really good race. I wanted to start strongly so I led it from the start and got a PB by over 2 seconds which was really good.”

“I’ve got the 200m Breaststroke tomorrow which I’m hoping to get another medal in.”

Other gold medallists

  • Oliver Crosby (Stockport Metro) – 17yrs 100m Breaststroke
  • Alexander De Tullio (Chelsea and Westminster) – 18yrs+ 100m Breaststroke
  • Olivia Herron (City of Salford) – 12/13yrs 100m Breaststroke
  • Abigail Hurst (Berkhamstead SC) – 15yrs 100m Breaststroke
  • Maisie Cossins (Maidenhead) – 17yrs+ Breaststroke
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