Rising stars shine bright at Swim England Diving National Skills Finals

The 2025 Swim England Diving National Skills Finals brought together the nation’s most promising young divers for a weekend filled with exceptional talent and fierce competition.

Southend Leisure Centre played host to the competition which ran across the 19 and 20 July and saw a total of 18 clubs represented, as the athletes delivered performances that highlight a bright future for diving.

Sandwell’s success

Notably, the newest club, Sandwell Diving Club, made a remarkable impact by finishing as the most successful club of the weekend, securing an impressive haul of four gold, three silver and one bronze medal.

One of those gold medals came in the Female Group B category, which was fiercely contested and saw Stella Sant from Sandwell Diving Club finish on top with 340.35 points — just 0.35 points ahead of guest diver Murren Bain from Edinburgh, who returned home with a commemorative silver medal.

Southend’s Hannah Massey earned the silver medal with 338.00 points, followed by third-place finisher Freya Swaisland from Havering Cormorants Diving Club.

Among the standout stars was Sandwell’s Cooper Chilton who won the Open Group B with a 25.30 lead ahead of Charlie Scott from Dive London Aquatics Club. Chilton scored the most points in an event during the finals after racking up almost 350 points.

The podium in that event was completed by Dylan Irwin from City of Leeds Diving Club, who clinched the bronze medal in a tight battle against fourth placed James Connery from Corby Steel Diving Club.

Anna Brinton from the Dive London Aquatics Club was a dominant force in the Female Group C event, soaring to gold with a remarkable 325.20 points, outpacing strong contenders like Alexandra Thompson who secured the silver medal for Sandwell  and Guildford’s Elodie Ladds who concluded the podium.

Multiple medals for some

Brianna Fox from Southend Diving and Makayla Radbourne count towards the most successful divers of the weekend after securing a medal in both of their events.

In the Female Group A 1m event, Fox finished ahead of Sandwell’s Radbourne and Ellie Snape from Corby Steel Diving Club.

However, in the Female Group A 3m event, it was Radbourne who clinched the top spot with a score of 233.00 ahead of her teammate Sophie Ragab, with Fox taking bronze.

Sheffield tops the open events

In the open categories, the City of Sheffield Diving Club dominated the field. Across eight events, Sheffield earned six medals, of which half of them were gold.

Fraser Dall secured a gold medal for Sheffield in the Open Group A 1m event ahead of William Tibbatts from Cambridge Dive Team and Bradford’s Edward Kelly.

In the Open Group C1, James Sheridan clinched the gold medal for the club and his teammate, Samuel Hill, joined him on the podium in third. Separating the pair was Leeds’ Theo Gilberts.

The final Sheffield gold came from Alex Barthelemy, who impressed with a score of 328.35 in the Open Group C2, winning by a 21.65-point margin over Elliot Callan from City of Bradford Esprit Diving and Joha Pooley from Southampton Diving Academy.

In addition to the thrilling competition, Stephanie Lewis was honoured with the Malcolm Taylor Trophy – a prestigious award recognising volunteers who have made outstanding contributions to the National Age Group Championships or National Skills Finals.

To view the full results for 2025, please click here. Looking ahead, the National Skills Finals will be hosted by the South East Region in both 2026 and 2027.

Images: Mark Massey