DiSE swimmers enjoy ‘invaluable experience’ at Sweden Grand Prix

Swim England’s DiSE team enjoyed an ‘invaluable experience’ at the 2025 Swedish Grand Prix in Stockholm, picking up 23 medals.

The 57-strong group came away with four gold, nine silver and 10 bronzes to finish second in the medal table at the Eriksdalsbadet pool

It was three-days packed with strong performances for a squad where for many it was their first time representing England.

Amongst those that impressed were Daniel Jackson and Millie Wells, who both came away with individual gold medals.

Jackson was one of the stars of the opening day, taking the Men’s 400m Individual Medley in style, with a time of 4:31.08.

He led what was a memorable event for the DiSE team where they held each of the top five finishers in the final as Luke Poulton and Finlay Pope joined Jackson on the podium.

Borough of Kirklees’ Jackson then added a silver to his tally on the final day, finishing just over a second off the top time in the 200m Individual Medley final.

Wells matched Jackson’s two individual medals, starting with Women’s 200m Backstroke gold.

She clocked in around three seconds ahead of her nearest challenger, leading from start to finish to take the title in 2:16.44. Wells followed that up with bronze in the 100m event, edging out teammates Hannah Murphy and Lilie Grover to a place on the podium after the trio all put in strong swims.

Team England particularly stood out in the two relay events, taking five of the six podium places on offer.

In the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle it was another clean sweep with six seconds splitting the three English sides.

But it was the quartet of Hayden Annan, Jack Jenkinson, Jessica Humm and Grace Greenhalf that came out on top, clocking in a strong time of 3:37.66.

George Whittle, Noah Wheeler, Lillie Grover and Jessica Smelt also set the quickest time in the Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay, leading an English one-two ahead of Megan Hansford, Ruby Stephenson, Jack Brown and Joseph Wey.

The groups para swimmers impressed in Sweden with Zack Sturgess and Lewis Jones taking the top two para swimming scores in each of the men’s 100m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.

Jones also topped the para swimmers in the 100m breaststroke, whilst Jacob Wood earnt the most points in the 100m backstroke and 50m freestyle.

On the women’s side, Grace O’Brien was inside the top three in each of her three events, capping off a strong weekend where the group use what they had learnt on the programme so far in a new environment.

‘Incorporating learning in to competition’

Reflecting on the trip, head coach Joseph Stanford (Nova Centurion) said that the experience in Sweden provided great opportunities for both the athletes and the 17 coaches and team staff that joined them in Stockholm.

He said: “Competing at the Swedish Grand Prix was a fantastic opportunity for the athletes to apply everything they had learned through the DiSE programme to date.

“It challenged them to step outside their comfort zones and demonstrate how they could incorporate their learning into an unfamiliar competition environment.

“This trip was also invaluable for our coaching team, offering them the opportunity to collaborate, share ideas, and participate in a Q&A session with coaches from the Swedish National Centre. The experience provided valuable insights into both the similarities and differences in athlete development approaches between Sweden and England.”

You can find all the results from the Swedish Grand Prix here and you can see the times from the team’s podium finishers below.