Personal bests shattered to start day three of the National Summer Meet

A host of personal bests were shattered to kickstart day three at the 2023 Swim England National Summer Meet.

Session five and six of the competition saw six sets of medals handed out with distance swimmers back at centre stage with the Men’s 800m Freestyle and the Women’s MC 400m Freestyle event.

Swales impresses as Bryant hits 30-second personal best

A 30-second personal best improvement from 14-year-old Lucas Bryant made it a blistering start to the Men’s 800m Freestyle events.

His performance won him his heat but not the 13-14 age group title as Nova Centurions’ Thomas Swales impressed to finish second in a heat that contained all older swimmers later on in the session.

It saw Swales finish eight seconds faster than Maidenhead’s Bryant in a strong time of 8:42.89.

Bryant won silver in 8:50.03 narrowly ahead of City of Liverpool’s Dylan Madican who finished just 0.19 slower with a time of 8:50.22.

Mason-Williams takes Birmingham to the top of the podium

City of Birmingham won gold through Hugh Mason-Williams in the 15 Years age group setting a 8:48.66 as he was the only swimmer of his age to swim under the 8:50.00 mark.

A consistent swim from Yessin Selmani earnt him the silver medal. The Barnet Copthall athlete finished in 8:50.07 to earn the runners up spot.

The bronze medal went to Max El-Mokadem from RTW Monson with a time of 8:54.97.

Leander’s Lawrie takes title

Barnet Copthall were once again silver medallists in the 16 Years event as they hit the podium for the second time in the session.

This time it was through Kenechukwu Harris-Eze who recorded a time of 8:48.77 to add to the clubs medal tally.

He wasn’t quite quick enough for gold however as Alexander Lawrie from Leander took the title, finishing in an impressive 8:42.37.

Jamie Steadman of Clevedon won himself bronze with a time of 8:49.70 to round out the podium places.

Cooke kicks away from field for gold

Samuel Cooke kicked away from the rest of the field at the end of the penultimate heat of the session as he took gold in the 17 Years event.

Cooke of Corby improved on his personal best time by 20 seconds in a strong swim across the 16 lengths of the Ponds Forge pool.

He finished five seconds faster than his nearest rival Reece Blackett who won silver for Newcastle in an exceptional display.

Charlie Toms of Maxwell completed the top three, finishing in 8:44.27 just two seconds behind Blackett’s time.

Cox sets fastest time of the session

Daniel Cox set the fastest time of the session to set the standard in the 18 Years and over age group.

He fought right to the end to ensure he improved his lifetime best as he took a second off his previous mark.

Cox set a 8:35.52 as the 19-year-old raced to the title for Wycombe District.

James Cleaver set the next quickest time in the age group to take home the silver medal. The Beckenham swimmer finished in 8:40.59 to win the clubs first gold of the meet.

Newcastle’s James Hodgson won bronze with a time of 8:44.78 just ahead of Danielius Tuna who missed out on a medal in fourth. He improved his personal best by eight seconds to finish just 0.53 behind the impressive Hodgson.

Lambert wins day three’s first gold

The day’s first medal came in the morning session with Borough of Kirklees’ Evie Lambert finished fastest in the Women’s MC 400m Freestyle.

Her time of a 5:26.31 earnt her 609 British Para-Swimming Points as she came away with the title.

Eva French was her nearest rival after touching the wall just 0.61 behind Lambert. The result gave her 527 points for her efforts.

Rebecca Hardy-Bishop of Jersey won bronze with a time of 5:35.77 for 485 points.

Images: Morgan Harlow