Hughes and Large win hat-tricks as English swimmers finish third in Italy

May 3, 2016 Swimming News

Fifty young swimmers claimed a total of 20 gold medals for a third place overall finish at the Energy Standard Cup 2016 in Italy, part of the ASA England Programmes swimming phase 3 talent development.

Nathan Hughes claimed three gold medals over the course of the meet, his most impressive coming in the Youth Boys’ 1500m Freestyle. The Hatfield swimmer was almost a full 20 seconds ahead of second place, swimming 15:41.33 to take victory.

Click here to view full times from the English swimmers at the Energy Standard Cup 2016 on swimmingresults.org

He also claimed the top spot in the Youth Boys’ 400m Freestyle, in which he finished with a time of 3:59.55 and the Youth Boys’ 400m IM, touching in 4:24.17.

Nathan Hughes won three golds medals for England at the Energy Standard Cup 2016.

Newcastle Swim Team’s Emily Large was the only other swimmer to claim a hat-trick of gold medals

She impressed in the Junior Girls’ 400m IM in which she was over four seconds ahead of second place, she swam 4:55.84 for a first place finish. She also won the Junior Girls’ 200m Butterfly (2:12.30) and 100m Butterfly (1:01.16).

Tom Derbyshire of Royal Wolverhampton claimed two gold medals in the junior age group, touching in 15:25.93 in the 1500m Freestyle and 3:56.32 in the 400m Freestyle. The 400m Free was a tight race to the finish with Ukraine’s Kyrylo Garashchenko.

City of Leeds’ Tia Ward also dropped a double for the British team, taking gold in both the Youth Girls’ 200m and 400m IM. She touched in 2:21.24 and 4:58.40 respectively.

Sam Dailley of Plymouth Leander swam 55.42 in the Youth Boys’ 100m Butterfly to claim his gold medal, and Kaylee Dekker of Salisbury added to the tally with her Youth Girls’ 200m Butterfly final, touching in 2:23.24.

Also securing gold medals for the youth age group were Rachel Anderson who swam 4:20.51 in the Girls’ 400m Freestyle, Callum Smart who touched in 2:19.94 in the boys 200m Breaststroke and Lewis Burras who claimed the final youth gold in the 50m Freestyle with 24.01.

In the junior age group, Freya Anderson claimed victory in the Girls’ 100m Breaststroke after finishing with 1:10.73, Joe Litchfield took the title in the Boys 400m IM after making it to the pad in 4:22.51.

Brodie Williams and Lily Boseley took gold in their respective backstroke events, Williams swimming 2:02.18 in the boys’ 200m and Boseley swimming 1:02.35 in the girls’ 100m.

The final gold medal of the meet was in the 4x200m Mixed Freestyle Relay, in which Lewis Clough, Annalea Davison, Elizabeth Harris, Jamie O’Connor swam a collective 7:55.20 for victory.

Tough to come into event after British Champs

England Programmes head coach Fred Furniss admitted he was pleased with how the competition went, particularly coming straight into the event after the British Swimming Championships.

“It was tough to come here and race again straight after British Championships, but that is a mind-set that we need to nurture and improve,” said Furniss.

“We have improved our underwater phase, our finishing speed and race awareness from last year, but they can still get better.

Team leader Grant Robins added: “Competitions like this provide swimmers with vital exposure to high level competition, helping them along their pathway towards podium success in the future.

“They are also a great experience for coaches who are also on a development track. We filmed coaches at work and spent time analysing their behaviours, a really powerful tool for self improvement.

“Everyone who attended the competition had a job to do and they achieved that with a high level of professionalism!”