‘Phenomenal’ Robyn Swatman crowned double solo national champion

Walsall and GB swimmer Robyn Swatman completed a clean sweep of the solo medals at the Swim England Artistic Swimming National Junior and Senior Championships 2022.

Swatman is still a junior swimmer but has won all four solo medals on offer at this year’s event, taking the senior and junior titles.

After victory in the Technical Solo on day one, Swatman backed it up with gold in the Free Solo competition.

The awards didn’t end there as the 18-year-old was also presented with the Helen Elkington Trophy to add to her cabinet alongside the Colin Lushington Memorial Trophy from the opening day.

Her coach, Amy Baker, described Swatman’s achievements as ‘phenomenal’ as she explained how the swimmer splits her time between training with her club, Walsall, and the Great Britain squad.

Baker said: “It’s incredible how well Robyn has swam over the last two days.

“She only trains with us once a week so it makes it really challenging to be able to fit in that solo training around her really busy schedule of travelling up and down the country.

“She’s done incredibly well and we’re really pleased with her performances over the last two days.”

On Swatman four golds, she added: “It’s phenomenal. We were really lucky last year with the virtual event that Robyn got the Tech Solo, so we’re really proud that she obviously retained that.

“It’s really impressive to be double solo champion and still only a junior.”

Swatman scored 77.4333 overall, which was 24.0000 for execution, 30.5333 for artistic impression and 22.9000 for difficulty.

The silver medallists were City of Salford’s Aimee Lawrence in the senior competition with a score of 73.0333 and Reading’s Eleanor Blinkhorn (72.9667) in the junior competition, with Blinkhorn also awarded the senior bronze medal.

The junior bronze also went Reading’s way as Beatrice Crass racked up 70.8000 points to take home the medal.

After her gold medal-winning performances, Swatman explained that all her hard work in training had paid off.

She said: “Tech went really well. It was a new routine and lots of changes, so it was really good.

“The Free routine was the same from last year but with harder changes.

“We’ve had a hard week in training so I can definitely feel my sore muscles, but I think it went really well and it’s really paid off.”

Reading duo win Spencer Trophy

In the Free Duet competition, Reading Royals took five of the six spots on the podium as they laid claim to the Spencer Trophy.

Blinkhorn and Crass later teamed up to win senior and junior gold with a 72.7667 score.

They were awarded 21.7000 for execution, 29.4667 for artistic impression and 21.6000 for difficulty.

Lawrence joined forces with Libby Taylor to score 70.1000 and win the senior silver medal for City of Salford.

Reading’s Elena Smith-Fernandez and Sofija Dakovic (67.7667) finished with a senior bronze and junior silver, followed closely by their teammates Charlie Razzell and Lily Gidney (67.1333) for junior bronze.

Rushmoor rose to gold

The Free Mixed Duet competition saw Rushmoor return to the top of the podium by way of Ranjuo Tomblin and Alexandra Tomusyak, with Maria Smith Fernandez in reserve.

The pair added to the club’s opening day success in the Technical Mixed Duet competition to take the senior and junior gold.

They scored 19.7000 for execution, 26.4000 for artistic impression and 19.8000 for difficulty resulting in an overall score of 65.9000.

In second place and winning the senior silver medal was Aqualina’s pairing of Eloise and Maxwell Sewell with 61.9000.