Hatfield Swimmers Rise to the Occasion at British Championships
Last week’s British Champs proved to be successful for the Pink Army. We were represented on the national stage with strong performances by those in pink as well as our away swimmers.
The week started on Tuesday for Hatfield swimmers with Ashley and Caitlin both competing in the 50m breaststroke. This was Ashley’s preferred event and a strong morning swim with her 2nd ever fastest time saw her qualify in 12th place and earn a spot in the evening’s B final. Caitlin finished in 39th place. Returning for her final, Ashley swam another strong race to place 3rd in the B final in a very close finish where just hundredths separated places.
Thursday was the next day to see Hatfield swimmers competing. Oliver kicked off the day with his first event of the week, the 100m backstroke. With a fantastic swim, he took a big chunk off his PB to move himself way up the rankings to 50th place. Next, it was Caitlin’s turn to race her best event, the 200m breaststroke. With a season’s best swim, Caitlin placed 18th overall after the heat swims and booked her place for the evening’s B final. Here she put together a brilliant race to knock 3 seconds off her heat time and finish the B final in 5th place, moving herself up 4 places. This was also her 2nd fastest swim ever.
Friday saw the Champs debut of Alexandra Nurney. She swam in the 50m butterfly and recorded a time just outside of her PB to finish in 95th place.
Sunday was the final day of competition and also the busiest for Hatfield’s swimmers. The morning began with both Ashley and Caitlin racing in the same heat in lanes right next to each other in the 100m breaststroke. Both put in strong performances and placed 15th and 17th respectively, confirming B final spots for later. Again, both swimmer’s laid down times that were their 2nd best ever recorded in the event. Oliver raced in his best event, the 200m backstroke a little later on. He achieved another PB and earned himself an evening swim in the Junior final.
On the last night of finals, the girls kicked us off with the 100m breaststroke B final, again swimming in lanes next to each other. Caitlin swam within a tenth of her morning time and moved herself up into 6th place, just .03 behind 5th and .04 behind 4th in a very close finish. Ashley finished in 10th place just fingertips behind the 9th place finisher. Oliver was our final swimmer of the competition with another strong 200m backstroke touching in 8th place in the Junior final.
Congratulations to these swimmers on your amazing achievements!