Reading Royals in seventh heaven at Virtual National Age Group Championships

Dominant Reading Royals won seven of the 10 medals up for grabs in the Swim England Artistic Swimming Virtual National Age Group Championships 2021 13-15 years category.

They celebrated a clean sweep in the solo and free duet competitions, while the club also picked up gold in the team event.

And Reading swimmer Lily Halasi also claimed the Shacklock Trophy for the highest total of routine scores in the solo, duet and team events.

Halasi claimed two golds in the duet and team competitions but was denied a hat-trick of top spots by her Reading team-mate Cara Zeidler in the solo category.

Zeidler scored 66.3000 for her routine to a cover of Forever Young and finish 0.1000 ahead of Halasi.

She said: “I was not expecting it, honestly – I’m just really happy with my performance.

“I have been working on the routine since May. I did not have that much pool time during that time so I did a lot of walk throughs to make sure I kept developing my solo skills.

“I have always loved the original version of the song I chose, Forever Young. 

“Me and my coach decided to have a look if there was any nice cover versions and we found a choice I immediately loved.  

“Just find the music that makes you feel really excited to swim to and makes you feel really special and really helps to express yourself.”

Reading’s Florence Blinkhorn was third in the solo event with a score of 65.8333.

Accomplished display

Halasi and Blinkhorn did top the podium in the free duet category, however, with a total of 69.3000.

Their team-mates Francesca Pringle and Eva Narewska and Elena Smith-Fernandez and Sofija Dakovic finished second and third respectively with scores of 63.1333 and 62.8000

Blinkhorn said: “It feels very accomplished. 

“We worked very hard together on this duet and all the little details. It feels very good to have paid off.”

Hat-trick of golds

The Reading team of Beatrice Asker, Blinkhorn, Dakovic, Halasi, Narewska, Pringle, Elena Smith-Fernandez and Zeidler sealed the club’s third gold of the 13-15 years age group in the team event.

They scored 64.5333 to finish 3.2333 points head of the City of Salford team of Isabella Boyle, Francesca-Lily Derbyshire, Sophie Fleming, Alisa Fox, Lotti Horsman, Emilia Hughes, Gabriella Jackson and Eva Lawrence.

Aquavision’s team of Ola Czarnowska, Rose Gormanly, Jessica Hinxman, Holly Hughes, Aisling Khan, Anabelle Sangiorgio, Constantina Tetteh and Olivija Urbonaite were third with a total of 61.1000.

A delighted Dakovic: “It feels very good – we worked very hard for it.”

Asker added: “We have been working on this since the summer when we came out of lockdown. 

“It’s been really hard for everyone to get back together again after being on screens for so long.”

Pringle said: “It’s been quite weird. We’re such a close-knit team who are all really good friends. So to get back together again is just fun.”

Aqualina duo triumph

In the Mixed Duet, Aqualina’s Kiarra Janikova and Maxwell Sewell took the gold with a score of 55.0000.

The pair had to perfect their routine around Sewell’s trip to Croatia to compete at the inaugural European Youth Artistic Swimming Championships.

He said: “We started it three months before it was meant to be in. 

“We were working around when I was in the Croatia competition so it was quite hard to fit it in but we got it in and our coaches helped us.”

Full results