Tie for gold in the penultimate race of day three in Sheffield

A tie for gold in the penultimate race of day three stunned the crowd at the Swim England National Summer Meet.

It came in the Women’s 16 Years 200m Individual Medley where Evie O’Halleron-Hutchinson and Maddison Rens with a time of 2:25.29.

It was O’Halleron-Hutchinson who led the way between the pair in the opening stages with the swimmer leading Rens by two seconds at the halfway stage thanks to a strong backstroke and breaststroke legs.

But Rens (City of Liverpool) came back at the Northumberland and Durham swimmer in the second half of the race and her strong freestyle finish helped her claw back the time to ensure the pair clocked in exactly the same time.

The duo share the gold medal with Indigo Stone earning bronze for Dulwich Dophins, recording a time that was just 0.34 off the leading pair.

Elsewhere in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley, City of Birmingham’s Olivia Robins clinched her first gold medal of the championships after a superb swim in the Women’s 12/13 Years final.

It was the first time the 13-year-old had recorded a time which was under the 2:30 mark as she touched home in 2:27.29.

Jasmine Hall of Basildon Phoenix was the silver medal winner, finishing just under one second behind Robins. In third was City of Leicester’s Janie Finch for bronze.

In the 14 Years final, Repton’s Elodie Pearcey was crowned national champion after winning gold in 2:26.57.

Making it a hat-trick of medals in session eight for RTW Monson was Abigail Smiley who clocked a time of 2:27.62. The bronze medal was won by City of Lincoln’s Lilli-Rise Carr.

Olivia O’Mahony and Petra Varga were the two swimmers challenging one another for the top spot on the podium in the 15 Years event.

Cockermouth’s O’Mahony secured the national title in 2:23.92, with Varga earning silver.

City of Salford’s Grace Jackson produced a stunning freestyle leg out in lane one to get her hands on a bronze medal.

And following on from the enthralling tie for gold in the penultimate race of the day was the 17 Years and over final.

It was a new personal best to finish off the day as Tiverton’s Gemma Dilks won gold in 2:22.79.

Mia Colyer of Black Lion was the winner of the silver medal and finishing the podium in third was Cira Fletcher, representing Nova Centurion.

Khodaverdi opens up session with personal best

Also amongst the 31 gold medals awarded on night three was Stockport Metro’s Daniel Khodaverdi won the session’s first gold with a time of 54.39 in the Men’s 13-14 Years 100m Freestyle final.

The effort knocked one second off his personal best time as he finished 0.40 ahead of Zain Salah.

The Hamilton UAE swimmer won himself a commemorative silver with Joshua Parker winning national silver.

Braintree’s Parker finished just 0.05 behind Salah with Nova Centurions’ Thomas Swales winning bronze, losing out on silver by one thousandth of a second.

Swales added to his gold in the 800m Freestyle earlier on in the day to win bronze to round out a strong day for the 14-year-old.

Max El-Mokadem was another swimmer that added to their success in the 800m Freestyle as he won gold in the 15 Years 100m Freestyle.

He added to his bronze from earlier in the day to set a time of 54.01 to edge clear of City of Birmingham’s Hugh Mason-Williams to the title.

Mason-Williams finished 0.15 off the RTW Monson athlete with Jack Robinson from Reed’s School setting a 54.18 to claim the final podium place.

Ethan Richards-Knight impressed in the 16 Years age group. He swam a commanding race to win gold for Chalfont in a time of 53.17.

Bromley’s Amel Delanin was his closest challenger, setting a 53.55 with a strong swim for silver.

Louka Bramwell from the City of Coventry won the battle for bronze – finishing ahead of Frederick Jones of RTW Monson by 0.11.

There was a close finish for gold in the 17 Years 100m Freestyle final as Thomas Smith of Richmond Dales became national champion with a new lifetime best effort.

Smith swam under the 54-second mark for the first time as he smashed his previous best to set a 53.56 at Ponds Forge.

He had to battle hard for the win with Daniel Jackson from the Borough of Kirklees setting a 53.64 to finish just 0.08 behind Smith’s time.

Logan Mulhall-Reid was the only other swimmer to finish faster than 54 seconds as he set a 53.73 for bronze.

Derby Excel’s Tom Trueman won national gold in the 18 Years and over race thanks to a time of 51.26.

He finished ahead of the Loughborough University duo of Adam Metcalf and Ben Blowers who won silver and bronze respectively.

Metcalf set a time of 51.88 with Blowers just behind with a 52.10.

A commemorative gold and silver was awarded to Queensland swimmers Jack Carr and James Koch. The duo set the quickest times with Carr taking the win ahead of his clubmate.

A podium of lifetime bests in the Men’s 50m Backstroke

The top three all set new personal best times as Ethan Richards-Knight won another gold medal for Chalfont to become the 16 Years Men’s 50m Backstroke champion.

Richards-Knight touched the wall in a time of 27.97 as 0.06 split the three medallists.

Jacob Kelly touched the wall next with a powerful swim from lane three to finish in 28.02 and just one thousandth ahead of Joseph Edgar of Northumberland and Durham.

Edgar also impressed in lane six throughout the race as he just missed out on a silver medal.

Ben Uff of Mount Kelly won his first gold of the week in the Men’s 15 Years 50m Backstroke event with a time of 27.69.

It was a lifetime best for Uff who’s swam under the 28-second mark for the first time in his young career.

The 15-year old was the only swimmer in the race to break that barrier too as he stretched clear of the field to become national champion.

Andre Onyekwe of Leamington was the silver medallist, touching the wall with a time of 28.14 and Repton’s Harry Milne completed the podium.

Milne just held off the challenge of Stockport Metro’s Henry Taylor who was 0.01 behind the Repton swimmer.

It was a battle of the centre lanes in the Men’s 13-14 Years 50m Backstroke as Samuel Sutcliffe stormed to gold.

The Ramsbottom swimmer ousted Dartmoor Darts’ Toby Nakamura-Drew by 0.33 to take the title in a time of 28.08.

It was a close race for the remaining medals where Nakamura-Drew finished ahead of Jeremiah Carnegie and Xander Tovey with just 0.11 splitting the trio.

Dartmoor’s swimmer set a 28.41 with Carnegie (Beckenham) just 0.06 behind and Tovey 0.07 further back.

It saw City of Coventry’s Tovey narrowly miss out on a medal despite a swimming a strong race as Carnegie claimed the bronze.

Mason Allen dived underwater to help him touch the wall first for Basildon Pheonix in the Men’s 17 Years 50m Backstroke final.  Allen’s time was also a new lifetime best by 0.21.

His time of a 27.45 saw him complete the race 0.31 ahead of Cayman’s Will Sellars.

Sellars – who won commemorative silver – and national silver medallist C Georgescu-Spiers of Elmbridge were the only other swimmers to beat that 28-second mark with times of 27.76 and 27.94.

The national bronze went the Maddox Roberts of Witham Dolphins who posted a 28.04 to earn himself a medal.

It was a close race for the national gold in the Men’s 18 Years and over final.

Callum Wimble was able to pull away in the closing stages to earn himself the national gold with the Team Bath swimmer clocking in a time of 27.16.

Behind him there was just 0.22 separating the next six swimmers where Ashley Donaldson and Lucas Lowery took the national medals.

Donaldson (Loughborough University) set a time of 27.52 to finish 0.01 ahead of Lowery to claim silver with Andrew Sawkins (Borough of Newham) just 0.02 further back.

Commemorative gold and silver went to Queensland’s duo of James Bayliss and Kai Van Kool who set times of 25.35 and 25.55 respectively.

A Soundwell one-two in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley

There was a four-way battle for gold coming into the final leg of the Men’s 16 Years final where Soundwell secured a one-two finish.

It was Jack Brown and Rhys Dodd who won the medals for the club with Brown powering away from the chasing pack in the final leg to finish in a time of 2:12.73.

Dodd followed his teammate to finish second, recording a time of 2:14.48 for silver with Louis Thorne rounding out the podium for the City of Bristol.

Thorne was in the pack of four battling for the win at the final turn as he managed to edge out Team Ipswich’ Zak Trorman for bronze.

The result made it an all Gloucestershire County podium in the event.

Skye Sharples of Portsmouth Northsea won gold in the Men’s 13-14 Years 200m Individual Medley by 0.90 to go four seconds faster than his personal best time.

He finished ahead of a strong finishing William Hicklin from the City of Leeds who completed a strong freestyle leg for silver.

Sharples embraced his teammate Lucas Lovell after completing the race with Lovell finishing in sixth.

Joshua Burkill of Sutton Cheam set a 2:16.04 to round out the podium places with bronze.

Jasper Hall then knocked two seconds off his personal record to win gold in the 15 Years competition.

The Newcastle athlete won a close race to the wall with Aquabears’ Oliver Parry and Salisbury’s Oscar Bellinger.

Parry set a massive personal best of his own for silver as he put on an incredible show from lane eight.

He just missed out on Hall’s time, finishing just 0.08 off the gold medal time.

Parry finished in 2:15.29 with Bellinger’s strong freestyle leg putting him right in the mix for gold ending up just 0.17 behind the winning time.

Reece Blackett’s early lead helped him come away with the national title for the Men’s 17 Years 200m Individual Medley.

Blackett had a two second lead on the rest of the pack at the halfway mark who couldn’t close in to snatch the gold.

City of Birmingham’s James Abulencia led the charge and brought the gap back to under a second but his time of a 2:11.38 wasn’t enough to stop the Newcastle swimmer.

Blackett finished in 2:10.48 and there was a tie for bronze between Reagan Gallagher and Bryan Dinev.

Gallagher (Taunton Deane) and Dinev (Bromley) both touched the wall and recorded a 2:12.84 meaning they shared the bronze.

The Men’s 200m Individual Medley concluded with a gold for 24-year-old Josh Kirlew of Enfield Swim Squad.

Kirlew put in an impressive performance to set a time of 2:07.29 and finish ahead of Mount Kelly’s Donatas Dragasius.

Dragasius added a silver to complete the full set of medals after his gold and bronze earlier in the meet.

He set a time of 2:07.89 for silver with a medal for the home club – City of Sheffield – through B Howarth-Osborne who was just 0.03 off Dragasius’ time.

Perfect timing from Hurst

Iris Hurst timed her race to perfection on her way to gold in the Women’s 12/13 Years 400m Freestyle final.

The Warrington swimmer took the lead in the final 50m and went on to finish in 4:37.16 – around one second ahead of Darcey Arnold of Elmbridge.

Arnold’s time of 4:37.16 saw her add a 400m Freestyle silver to her 1500m silver.

In third was Basildon Phoenix swimmer Ellie Barth-Wehrenalp (4:38.85).

Newcastle’s Evelyn Hallissey set a new personal best by three seconds on her way to winning the 14 Years national title.

She clocked in at 4:33.18 to beat Northumberland and Durham’s Ella Smith and Katy Wun of Camden Swiss Cottage, who were awarded silver and bronze respectively.

There was a unique split in the 15 Years race which saw the front five pull away from the remainder of the field.

RTW Monson swimmer and gold medal winner in this event, Lilia Fornasier, pulled clear with 100m to go and went on to secure victory in 4:31.43 to set a new personal best.

Both Asta Maddox and Ellie Freeze battled it out for the silver medal, but it was Millfield’s Maddox who was first to the wall in 4:35.94.

The bronze medal-winning time for Sutton and Cheam swimmer, Freeze, was 4:36.49.

Emily Maxwell set a new lifetime best in the 16 Years final on her way to securing gold.

The Northumberland and Durham swimmer took an early lead and was 2.5 seconds ahead at the halfway stage. She went on to post a time of 4:28.19.

The silver medal went to RTW Monson’s Jessica Gable and City of Sheffield’s Chloe Cooke followed closely behind in third.

It was a much closer race in the 17 Years and over age group, with five swimmers all finishing in close contention for the podium places.

Coming out on top was Barnet Copthall swimmer Jessica Arundale in 4:25.26 to clinch gold and improve on her personal best time by three seconds.

Next to finish was Liberty Gordon of Rushmoor Royals to earn silver and City of Sheffield claimed back to back bronze medals as Georgia Robertson rounded off the podium.

In the Men’s Multi-Classification 400m Freestyle, Worksop’s Max Davies secured another national crown, following his victory in the 50m Freestyle on day two.

Davies was the only swimmer to break the 600 point barrier with his total of 633 points.

Crawley’s Alfie Penfold took silver with 553 points and Repton’s Owen Johnson won bronze after tallying up 523 points.

Tie for bronze in the Women’s 50m Backstroke

Leatherhead’s Ami Jones was the winner of the gold medal in the Women’s 12/13 Years 50m Backstroke.

The 13-year-old set a time of 32.09, with City of Leicester’s Tallulah Rautenbach and Harrogate’s Lois Child making up the remainder of the podium.

Hannah Capron came through to grab the win and the gold medal in the 14 Years race in a time of 31.09.

There was a close contest for second and third, and only 0.05 separated Elizabeth Annis of Pershore and Chorley’s Olivia Edgar at the wall.

Annis was the one to stretch out and take silver, with Edgar receiving bronze.

York City’s Raya Harrand produced a great performance in the final 10m to set a new lifetime best of 30.86 in the 15 Years age group.

There was also new lifetime bests for the respective silver and bronze medallists – Erin Currie (31.18) of Hatfield and Worcester’s Asha Mahanta (31.40).

The 16 Years final saw the first tied medal position of the competition as bronze went to both Sophia Moule of Romford Town and Droitwich swimmer Eva Sherrey, with the pair finishing on the exact same time of 31.79.

But ahead of them was City of Norwich’s Sophia Pickering who swam a brilliant swim to take home gold in 31.46. The silver medal was won by Stockport Metro’s Eloise Ashman (31.57).

Charley Joyce of Epping Forest went two hundredths of a second quicker than her heats swim to set a new lifetime best in the 17 Years and over event.

The 18-year-old finished in a gold medal-winning time of 29.71, and joining her on the podium for a commemorative gold was Queensland swimmer Layla Day.

Silver went to Loughborough University’s Charley Jones (29.99) and bronze was collected by Anaconda’s Isabel Iley (30.01)