Double record breaker William Ellard sets two new British bests in Sheffield

William Ellard broke two British records, including one of his own, as he charged to two victories at the GoCardless Swim England National Winter Championships 2023.

The St Felix School swimmer had a remarkable day two in Sheffield, firstly scoring a total of 1,071 points for his performance in the Open Multi-Classification (MC) 100m Freestyle final.

Ellard took the national title in a new British record time for the S14 classification, with a time of 49.85. He was the only swimmer to sneak under the 50 second mark.

The 17-year-old lowered his own record, which he set at the Swim England East Region Short Course Championships earlier in the year.

His previous best stood at 50.13 and lasted just 40 days before the improvement of 0.28.

It was a one-two finish for St Felix School in the final, as Jordan Catchpole joined his teammate on the podium.

Catchpole scored 913 points to earn the silver medal and Norwich Swan’s Timon Chapman completed the medal places with 796 points and the bronze medal.

Ellard later went on to break yet another British record in the penultimate event of the day – the Open MC 200m Individual Medley.

The previous best of 2:10.37 was lowered by more than two seconds courtesy of the youngster’s 2:08.22 time. His time also resulted in another huge points tally of 1,029.

Chapman upgraded his bronze to silver in this event as he collected 922 points. Following him in third was Nova Centurion swimmer Joseph Greaves for bronze.

Another Applegate double

In the Female MC 100m Freestyle event, Jessica-Jane Applegate continued to collect the gold medals at this year’s National Winter Championships.

The S14 swimmer, and British record holder for this event, did not disappoint as she went on to produce a time of 59.07 – scoring 939 points.

That result made it a double on day two for Applegate and four medals in total so far at the competition.

City of Manchester’s Grace Robinson was the silver medal winner. She finished ahead of Stockport’s Sienna Oxby by just five points.

Earlier in the day, Applegate also took gold in the Female MC 100m Butterfly event.

Her time of 1:06.31 saw her rack up 908 points to finish ahead of Robinson (781 points) – matching the top two finish that was to come.

Barking and Dagenham’s Brock Whiston took home bronze with a total of 767 points.

Clean sweep for Loughborough PC

Loughborough Performance Centre took a clean sweep of the medals in the Female Open 200m Individual Medley.

It was a stacked field in the final which featured the British record holder and European champion in this event, Abbie Wood.

It was another stand-out performance from the Loughborough swimmer, who lowered her time from the European Championships on her way to gold in Sheffield.

She touched the wall in 2:05.18 – which was an improvement of 0.4 on last week’s swim – and also saw her awarded the Florence Wightman Memorial trophy.

Her teammates, Freya Colbert and Elizabeth Booker, made up the remaining podium places. They clocked in at 2:09.94 and 2:10.09 to take silver and bronze respectively.

Georgia Gussey of Plymouth Leander was the winner of the senior final. Her time was 2:15.99 and proved to be the start of a successful evening for the 19-year-old.

City of Sheffield’s Abigail Miles (2:16.30) was next to touch the wall, followed by the University of Nottingham’s Anna Stansfield (2:19.12).

In the junior final, RTW Monson’s Amalie Smith had a strong end to her race and finished more than one second ahead of the rest of the field.

City of Milton Keynes swimmer Ruby Stephenson finished in second place and Mount Kelly’s Chloe Brown in third.

Blistering butterfly swim from Gammon

After a new personal best in the Open 100m Butterfly on day one, Bath University’s Joshua Gammon was back on the podium after swimming double the distance on day two.

It was another personal best time as the 20-year-old set the fourth fastest time in British history in the Open 200m Butterfly.

Gammon got his hands on another gold medal, as well as the Otter SC Centenary trophy, after a time of 1:51.88.

Loughborough University swimmer Reuben Rowbotham Keating (1:55.37) was the silver medal winner, and City of Sheffield’s Aaron Fox (1:56.77) secured bronze.

There was also a new personal best set in the senior final as hometown hero George Barber powered his way to the wall in 1:58.77.

His Sheffield teammate, Reuben Visda, joined him on the podium after finishing in third and James Shevchenko of Royal Wolverhampton separated the pair.

Camden Swiss swimmer Llewellyn Porter was the only swimmer to drop under the two minute barrier in the junior final.

He took the win ahead of Plymouth’s Jack Brown and Corby’s Samuel Cooke, who finished second and third respectively.

History-making 1500m Freestyle

There were some staggering displays in the Female 1500m Freestyle. Only five British female swimmers had ever gone under the 16 minute mark prior to this event.

Both Fleur Lewis and Amber Keegan clocked under that time on day two in Sheffield, setting some of the fastest times in history.

The former, Loughborough University’s Lewis, sealed the gold medal and was crowned national champion in a time of 15:51.19.

The latter of the two, Keegan, impressed at her home venue as she took silver in 15:58.27. In third and receiving the bronze medal was City of Liverpool’s Lucy Parsons.

Freestyle photo finish

The Female Open 100m Freestyle final was decided by the closest of margins.

From out in lane seven, Bath University’s Jemima Hall took the win by just 0.1 ahead of Sheffield’s Kate Clifton to claim her second gold medal of the competition.

Hall, who recorded a time of 54.44, was also awarded the Bush trophy after finishing in the top spot.

Erin Little of Mount Kelly wasn’t far behind either and she was the next to touch the wall after Clifton, which saw her win bronze.

There was more success for Bath University in the 100m Freestyle. Jana Spinner controlled the race throughout in the senior final to finish first, followed by her teammate Anna Farrow in second.

In third place was Mia Slevin of Loughborough University.

There was a brilliant finish to the junior final as all five swimmers in the centre lanes reached for the touch.

Less than half a second separated the top five at the finish, but it was Wycombe’s Annabelle Compton who snatched the victory in 55.51.

Repton’s Izabella Okaro and Rushmoor’s Jessica Humm were second and third respectively.

In the Open 100m Freestyle it was Joe Litchfield who took the spoils, alongside the Otter SC trophy.

The Loughborough PC swimmer swam a strong race and touched home in 46.72. Taking silver was Loughborough University’s Calvin Fry and bronze went to Jordan Cooley of Leeds University.

Leon Mowlem of Plymouth Leander was the winner of a very close senior final.

He beat Loughborough University’s Harry Robinson to the wall. Just 0.3 was the difference between Robinson and Bath University’s Kaleb Fox-Jones in third.

Chelsea and Westminster’s Henry Gray swam a new personal best time of 49.08 on his way to winning the junior final.

Jake Hutchinson of Leicester Sharks and Mount Kelly’s Jonathan Turck completed the podium.

More podium places for Pryor

Georgina Pryor was back on the podium on day two after adding the Female Open 100m Butterfly title to her 50m crown from the opening day.

The Derby Excel swimmer was awarded the Dolphex Knitting Mills trophy in addition to her gold medal – won in a time of 57.48.

City of Manchester’s Jessica Calderbank was also back on the podium, but this time collecting the bronze medal, with Northampton’s Betsy Wizard stepping up into the open final and delivering.

Wizard swam a 58.54 for silver and Calderbank managed a 59.35.

Georgia Gussey secures a double of senior final wins on day two by securing victory from lane two.

It was a big personal best of 1:00.66 for the Plymouth Leander swimmer after a superb swim. She was followed by City of Milton Keynes swimmer Poppy Baybutt in second and University of Nottingham’s Isabelle Leigh in third.

Ashleigh Baillie also managed a new personal time by just four tenths of a second in the junior final to finish in 1:00.54.

She finished top of the pile, with Soundwell’s Harriet Smith and City of Cambridge’s Georgia Holgate also in the top three.

Commanding win for Hutchison

Charlie Hutchison took a commanding lead in the Open 400m Individual Medley final which resulted in a gold medal and the Sans Egal trophy for the Loughborough University athlete.

The 21-year-old broke away from the remainder of the field to win by around six and a half seconds.

He finished in 4:06.13 and his nearest rival and teammate, Ben Harrison, recorded a time of 4:12.62.

Harrison was presented with the silver medal and the bronze went to Stockport’s Reece Grady (4:15.62).

Moritz Baumgartner (4:18.47) and Oliver Pope (4:19.92) both set new personal bests in the senior final.

Donatas Dragasius prevented a Loughborough University first and third finish with a fingertip – beating Adam Wilson to the wall by 0.1.

The biggest improvement in this event came courtesy of Mount Kelly’s Balint Ashton in the junior final.

At 17-years-old, Ashton went under the 4:20 mark for the first time ever and smashed him personal best by seven seconds on his way to victory.

Borough of Kirklees swimmer Daniel Jackson finished in second and Millfield’s Toby Godsell in third.

Osrin on the up

Honey Osrin was victorious in the Female Open 200m Backstroke final.

Her gold medal-winning time was 2:03.20 and the Loughborough University swimmer was also presented with the Horlicks trophy.

Bath University’s Niamh Ward (2:07.67) was the closest competitor and the eventual silver medallist, while City of Manchester’s Sophie Shaw (2:09.07) earned a bronze medal.

In the senior final, Loughborough University’s Rachel Anderson opened up a comfortable lead.

She improved on her time from the heats but finished just outside her seasons best with 2:09.56.

Mollie Garratt and Natasha Whittall completed the top three places.

Annabel Crees, who enjoyed success at the Summer Meet earlier in the year, was back to winning ways in the junior final.

The Repton swimmer finished ahead of Chelsea and Westminster’s Martyna Karabacz and Wycombe’s Katherine Williams.

Neeld nails breaststroke final

The 50m Breaststroke races are always close to call and it was no different on the second finals session of the championships.

There was less than one second between first and last place in the Open 50m Breaststroke final, but the gold medal was won by Birmingham University’s Samuel Neeld in 27.05.

Putteridge swimmer Lawrence Palmer was 0.02 behind to clinch silver and Plymouth Leander’s Charlie-Joe Hallett was a further 0.10 behind Palmer to take bronze.

Orion swimmer Karnell Nunes-Smith (27.42) finished on top in the senior final after his powerful performance.

Loughborough University teammates Oliver Taverner and Mackenzie Cannon were the second and third placed finishers.

The only swimmer to go sub 28 seconds in the junior final was the winner, Oliver Munn.

The 16-year-old Bracknell swimmer finished in 27.82 and was followed by Mount Kelly’s Joshua Inglis (28.06) and Chalfont’s Noah Wheeler (28.67).

You can find all the results from day two of the GoCardless Swim England National Winter Championships 2023 here.

Images: Will Johnston Photography