Seven medal events take place ahead of Speedo Summer Meet finale

The final day of the Speedo National Summer Meet saw another seven medal events take place before the closing session on day five in Sheffield.

Medals were up for grabs in the Women’s 800m Freestyle and both the Men’s and Women’s MC 100m Backstroke events.

The action at Ponds Forge finishes this evening as a number of swimmers also progressed through the mornings heats as they look to claim the final medals of this year’s championships.

Dominant Das

Oswestry Otters’ Akaash Das stormed his way to gold in the Men’s MC 100m Backstroke, adding to his bronze medal on day four.

Das’ time of a 1:21.28 earnt him an impressive score of 455 as he was the only man to break the 400-point barrier in the day’s first medal event.

Blackpool’s Owen Boyes was the fastest in the pool but his impressive time of 1:19.00 only scored him 373 points that gave him the silver medal with Repton’s Owen Johnson taking bronze.

French takes victory

Eva French was both the fastest and highest points scorer in the Women’s MC 100m Backstroke.

Nuneaton’s French set a time of 1:23.52 which was three seconds faster than any of her rivals as she took the title with 490 points.

Cockermouth’s Brooklyn Hale finished second and was close to French’s total as she scored 477 with a time of 1:26.26.

Fallon Cooney from City of Manchester Aquatics was the only other competitor to break the 400-point mark, setting a 1:26.65 that gave her 439 points to earn the bronze medal.

Witcombe steals the show

Soundwell’s Amber Witcombe won gold in the Women’s 17 Years and over 800m Freestyle event by nearly 10 seconds in a sensational display.

The 17-year old set a time of 9:16.90 to give her the medal in an impressive display ahead of Team Bath’s Emily Shuttleworth.

Shuttleworth was second, finishing in 9:26.37 as she was a further five seconds ahead of a close battle for bronze between Holly Lamb and Lauren Jones.

It was Basildon Pheonix’s Lamb who edged it, setting a time of 9:31.35 which was just 0.08 faster than Jones who was unlucky to miss out on a medal.

Emily Hedley took the gold for Newcastle in the 16 Years competition as she took the North East clubs first title of the day.

She set a time that was just under five seconds quicker than Leicester Sharks swimmer Abby Mitchell as her time of 9:26.73 gave her the silver medal.

The bronze medal was won by Rotherham Metro’s Daisy Purchase in a time of 9:27.47.

Isla Ince took home the 13/14 Years title by a similar margin for Guildford City after setting a 9:25.73.

Her time was 3.40 faster than Wycombe District’s Charlotte Heyden, who performed well to take the silver medal.

Heyden’s time was a 9:29.13 with Alice Forrest (9:32.89) from Northumberland and Durham in third after setting a new personal best with an improvement of around 17 seconds on her previous quickest time.

Wycombe District improved from silver to gold in the 15 Years event as Lilia Gilbert set the fastest time in 9:29.91.

It was a close battle as Chase’s Charlotte Surrell was just 1.45 slower as she had to settle for the silver medal despite a strong display.

Surrell’s time of a 9:31.34 was just enough to earn her silver with Mount Kelly’s Nicole Quiller just 0.34 off to give her the final spot on the podium.

Greenwich Royals also had a swimmer on top of the podium in the day’s opening sessions as Martyna Karabacz won gold for them in the 14 Years competition.

Her time of a 9:32.82 was just 1.28 faster than Newcastle’s Katherine Noble as she won the silver medal.

Mount Kelly picked up another medal on the day with bronze for Constance Logan after she set a strong time of 9:37.12 to finish slightly faster than Pheobe Chadwick of Teddington to take the final podium place.

What an end to an exceptional nationals! Amber swims 10 seconds clear of second place and drops 17 seconds to bag the gold 🥇🥇🥇#hardworkpays#holidaytimepic.twitter.com/GSG9if6olO

— Soundwellswim (@Soundwellswim) August 9, 2022

Main photo – DE Photo