Talia Staines on form to take Female 800m Freestyle gold

Talia Staines added gold to her open water silver in the Female 800m Freestyle at the GoCardless Swim England National Summer Meet.

In the afternoon’s heat declared winner events it was Staines who set the fastest time of the day as she took gold in the 18 Years and over age group.

Team Luton’s star added another gold to her collection after winning one of the same colour in the 7.5km race at the GoCardless Swim England Open Water National Age Group Championships on Saturday.

The 22-year-old finished in 9:09.25 as she comfortably came home fastest in heat 10 – the penultimate of the afternoon’s session.

Rhianna Foster added to her success in the 1500m Freestyle to take home the silver.

The Kingston Upon Hull athlete swam well once again to finish in 9:17.98, around eight seconds off the leader, but still knocked around eight seconds off her best time.

Mollie Fisher led for the majority of the race in heat nine to clock in as the third and fastest swimmer in the 18 Years and over.

Swimming in lane 0, the City of Manchester swimmer clocked in just under the 9:20.00 mark after setting a 9:19.80. That was a seasons best for her as she came away with the bronze medal.

In the 12/13 Years competition Lydia Shipley pulled clear of the field in the her heat to claim the gold medal.

The Middlesbrough swimmer knocked 15 seconds off her personal best after she touched the wall in a time of 9:30.84.

She finished more than six seconds faster than City of Coventry Grace Clewes. After clocking in at 9:37.10 she took silver in a time was fastest than all of the entry times in her age group.

She just clocked in faster than Maidstone’s Olivia Qualer who had to settle for bronze despite a strong time of 9:38.71.

Maya Orfanidis missed out on the podium in fourth but can go home proud after setting a new personal best by 28 seconds in a time of 9:40.13.

Chloe Barnard shaved just over ten seconds off her personal best as she won gold in the 14/15 Years event.

The Basildon and Phoenix swimmer was six seconds ahead of her nearest rival after touching the wall in 9:22.21 after 16 lengths on the Ponds Forge pool.

Olivia Robins finished strongly to make sure she set a new lifetime best time of her own in second place.

The 14 year-old swimmer impressed in amongst some of the older swimmers in her age group to get on to the podium. The City of Birmingham swimmer set a time of 9:28.97 as she won silver ahead of City of Leicester’s Francesca Harrison.

Portsmouth Northsea’s Jemima Sawle broke her personal best by 15 seconds to win gold in the 16 Years Female 800m Freestyle.

She set a 9:12.41 to finish ten seconds ahead of her nearest rivals as she asserted her dominance at Ponds Forge.

After putting clear water between her and the swimmers behind her in heat 10, Sawle swam a consistent race to record a swim that would’ve placed her fifth at the Aquatics GB Summer Championships last week.

Lucy Matthews of City of Coventry was ten seconds off Sawle’s storming time to take home a well earned silver medal.

She put in a consistent display to clock in less than three seconds faster than third place Freya Jones.

Jones also topped her best effort to round out the podium places, setting a 9:25.77 to earn herself a medal for Nova Centurions.

Sophie Dowding was another one to set a new lifetime best after putting one of the stronger performances of the session from lane eight.

She was 13 seconds faster than the rest of the field in her age group, clocking in at 9:13.06 which would’ve placed her second in the age group above.

It gave a deserved gold to the Team Ipswich swimmer in the 17 Years race who knows that she’ll now end her season with gold.

Sophie Martin also set a personal best in second with a 9:26.41. She finished third in the penultimate heat but was the second fastest in her age group, finishing comfortably faster than those behind her.

Macy Barker from the City of Liverpool was third, finishing in a time of 9:32.99.

Bradford takes freestyle gold

In the morning heats there was also a medal given out as Kai Bradford impressed to take his first medal of the meet in the Open/Male MC 50m Freestyle.

He was narrowly second to touch the wall in the ‘splash and dash’ race as the 15-year-old impressed to finish in 28.67.

That swim earnt him a score of 583 British Para-Swimming Points, just two more than Crawley’s Alfie Penfold.

Penfold was quickest in the water (27.81) but just lost out on points to Bradford despite a strong swim.

Oswestry Otters’ Akaash Das completed the top three to add to his gold in yesterday’s finals session.

He won bronze after scoring 550 points for his time of a 30.90 seconds.

For all the results from the GoCardless Swim England National Summer Meet 2024, click here.

Images: Will Johnston Photography