Great Britain land relay bronze at European Junior Open Water Champs

Great Britain landed 5km Mixed Relay bronze on the final day of the European Junior Open Water Championships in Marseille, France.

England’s Maisie Macartney, Hector Pardoe and Emilia Sansome combined with Welsh swimmer Ioan Evans to finish the U16 event in 1:00:32, beating rivals Spain by just four seconds.

Thanet Swim’s Macartney swam the start leg for the British team, before Ellesmere College Titans’ Pardoe and Evans in the middle legs.

While Wycombe District swimmer Sansome took over for the final leg in the lead, she was swimming against the top junior male swimmers from a number of rival countries.

Russia (1:00:01) and Hungary (1:00:13) came past to clinch the top two spots on the podium but Sansome dug deep to stay ahead of Spain’s Alexandre Lages Brion, who had finished 14th in the individual 7.5km event.

Phoebe Griffiths seals top 10 finish

Ellesmere College’s Phoebe Griffiths secured the best individual finish of the competition with a 10th place in the 7.5km event.

The top 10 were some 2 ½ minutes ahead of the rest of the field, with Griffiths finishing in 1:28:12.80.

Macartney (1:31:50.60) and Sansome (1:31:52.30) both secured top 20 places in the same race, finishing 17th and 19th respectively.

Meanwhile, Beckenham’s Tiegan Child (1:03:29.0) was 18th in the 5km and Newcastle Swim Team’s Georgia Darwent (2:13:12.00) and Northampton’s Rose Foden (2:13:52.20) came home 20th and 22nd in the 10km.

Pardoe was the pick of the English boys in individual events, placing 24th in the 7.5km with a time of 1:25:41.70.

Hatfield’s Max Jelfs (1:26:51.10) and Royal Wolverhampton School swimmer George Barber (1:29:25.90) were 30th and 35th in the same race.

In the 10km, Ellesmere’s Gordon Mason (1:59.37.60) was 27th while Cockermouth’s Tom Millburn (2:00:09.40) came home 31st.

Griffiths, Mason, Foden and Jelfs combined for the U19 5km Mixed Relay on the final day, placing 11th in 1:03:03.