DiSE swimmers enjoy ‘incredible experience’ at Swedish Grand Prix

Swim England’s Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) swimmers had an ‘incredible experience’ at the 2024 Swedish Grand Prix in Kungsbacka.

The squad of 72 athletes topped the podium 21 times across the three days of competition.

They flew out to Sweden on Thursday ahead of the event where they were joined by 19 staff members who supported the team throughout the trip.

The experience gained will prepare the swimmers for next month’s British Swimming Championships or their upcoming events later this summer.

The competition got underway on Friday after they each had the opportunity to train at the Kungsbacka Badhus Sports Centre ahead of an evening session where DiSE swimmers topped three of the opening four events.

Oliver Pope got the team off to the best possible start with a 4:31.39 to win the Men’s 400m Individual Medley before Luke McGee and Jessica Arundale set the fastest 1500m Freestyle times in the men’s and women’s events respectively.

McGee and Arundale both led all English top three’s in their events with Joseph Moment and Alexander Volkovoy following McGee home in the men’s race whilst Ruby Griffiths and Eleanor Kay completed the women’s podium.

Fantastic to witness

Pope also won the Men’s 200m Backstroke whilst Volkovoy, McGee and Finn Drysdale finished 1-2-3 respectively in the Men’s 400m Freestyle.

On the women’s side, Mia Colyer took the 100m backstroke title whilst Poppy Baybutt led an English one-two ahead of Hannah Willis in the 100m butterfly.

England’s para-swimmers put on a show out in Sweden with 10 fastest times in the para-events.

Rio Rogers set the quickest time in each of the Men’s MC 200m Freestyle, 100m butterfly, 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 400m freestyle and the 50m butterfly.

That sent him on his way to second place in the overall para-swimming standings and a reward of 2000kr (around £150) for his efforts.

Corey Hare also impressed by topping the MC Men’s 400m Individual Medley, 100m breaststroke, 200m individual medley, 100m backstroke as well as second in the 400m freestyle and third place in the 100m freestyle.

Fern Sneddon rounding out the para-swimming performances with second in both the Women’s MC 50m and 100m freestyle events.

There was also relay success to round out the competition as the quartet of Annabelle Quinn, Eleanor Kay, Matthew Baker and Maddox Roberts won the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle in a time of 3:44.32.

They were followed home by their teammates Angelo Giani Contini, Nathan Potter, Carys Roberts and Rosie Richards who were just under a second behind with a 3:43.28.

Giani Contini also won the Men’s 200m Freestyle, Albert Branch topped the Men’s 200m Butterfly and Roberts won the Men’s 100m Freestyle.

Speaking about the trip, team leader Mick Edmond said: “The Swedish Grand Prix was an incredible experience and great to be a part of.

“It was fantastic to witness the athletes perform to such a high standard both in training and in competition.

“We hope each of them took a lot from it as they prepare for either next month’s British Swimming Championships or their events across the year.

“Thank you to the event organisers in Sweden and to all the coaches and staff who supported our swimmers throughout the competition.”

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