Rowbotham-Keating adds silver to his medal tally on Winter Champs day one

City of Manchester Aquatics swimmer Reuben Rowbotham-Keating stepped onto the podium to claim his second medal on day one of the National Winter Championships.

The 16-year-old said he was ‘very happy’ with his results as he clinched the silver medal in the Men’s Junior 100 Individual Medley final.

He clocked a time of 56.58 seconds, just 0.29 behind the gold medallist, Matthew Ward of Mount Kelly (56.29). Taking bronze was Millfield’s Soloman Williams in 56.60 seconds.

Rowbotham-Keating added the silver medal to his gold medal won in the Men’s Junior 100m Butterfly final earlier in the session.

His gold medal-winning time was 54.10 seconds. Following his second time on the podium the youngster said: “I’m very pleased [to win two medals]. Got some big PB’s so I’m happy.

“Very happy with the times. The 100 I.M. was a three second PB and the 100m Butterfly was 0.9.

“I’ve got five more races this weekend – three tomorrow and two on Sunday. I’m looking forward to those and hopefully winning some more medals.”

Whittaker wins gold and silver

Leah Whittaker was crowned the Women’s Junior 50m Backstroke champion while also taking the silver medal in the Open 50m Backstroke.

The Mount Kelly swimmer finished in a time of 26.95 seconds to claim two medals. Coalville swimmer Emily Crane (26.80) was the Open event gold medallist with Ekaterina Avramova of Ealing taking the bronze in 27.13.

In the Junior event, Amara Addison finished second on the podium in 28.46 seconds followed closely by City of Bristol’s Leah Evans (28.58).

Bird bags gold ahead of Loughborough duo

Wycombe District’s Kieran Bird finished ahead of Team GB teammate Joe Litchfield in the Men’s Open 400m Freestyle final.

The 22-year-old touched the wall in a time of 3:39.97 to finish on top of the podium. Litchfield of the Loughborough National Centre managed a time of 3:42.10 to take home silver.

In third, and 1.10 behind Litchfield, was Loughborough University’s Charlie Hutchinson (3:43.20).

The Junior event saw City of Liverpool’s Tyler Melbourne-Smith (3:51.11) earn gold ahead of Reece Grady (3:54.63).

There was just 0.03 between second and third as Liam Dawson finished in the bronze medal position with a time of 3:54.66.

Putteridge’s Palmer tops podium

Lawrence Palmer of Putteridge won gold in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke after he got his hand on the wall ahead of Loughborough NC’s David Murphy.

Their respective times of 26.63 and 26.70 were two of the three sub-27 second times in the field with the third coming from David Bloomfield (26.99) who took bronze.

In the Junior event, Elliot Woodburn of Millfield took home the gold medal with a time of 27.52 while Callum Woolfenden of Beckenham was second in 29.19.

A commemorative silver medal went to Hamilton Aquatics’ Oscar Bilbao (28.22) and bronze was won by Sevenoaks swimmer Matt Burrows (29.23).

Canny doubles up on gold

Aimee Canny doubled up on gold medals after she won the Women’s 100m Freestyle final – adding to her earlier 200m Individual Medley win.

Her time of 53.17 bested the field though second place Isabella Hindley was close behind her in 53.79. The bronze medal was won by Millfield’s Tamryn Van Selm who came in at 53.81, just 0.04 ahead of fourth-place finisher Abbie Wood.

Erin Little was the winner of the gold medail in the Junior equivalent with a time of 55.49 while second place went to Mount Kelly’s Leah Whittaker in 55.35.

The bronze medal in what was the final women’s event of the evening went to Emma Croker (56.05).

To view the full results, click here.