London Legacy 2026

Over the weekend of March 28-30, a group of Hatfield swimmers travelled back and forth to the London Aquatic Centre to take part in this year’s London Legacy Meet. Hackney Anaconda in collaboration with Camden Swiss Cottage Swimming Club, Greenwich Royals Swimming Club & Chelsea and Westminster Swimming Club put on the event and it was a good opportunity to swim in a fantastic venue. The competition provided a chance for swimmers to race and qualify for Aquatics GB & Swim England Summer Championships as well as gain regional qualifications. Not only were there heats that were split into two sessions for older and younger swimmers, the meet had up to three finals in each event which were raced in a finals session in the evening.

On the first day of the competition, Hatfield returned a number of swimmers to finals. In the 50m backstroke we had two finalists. Summer Boswell finished in 7th place with Camille Vannier earning herself a bronze medal for her efforts. Later in the session, Leo Sims swam in the 200m back grassroots final and came in 8th place. A few events later, Lucas Hartley took on the 50m free B final where he finished 4th with Liam Rumball just behind in 6th. In the final event of the evening for Hatfield swimmers, Katie Jeffrey finished 3rd in the B final of the women’s 50m free.

The next morning came around all too quickly and the loss of an hour to clocks changing was felt on an early morning start! Nevertheless, our swimmers performed well and we again managed to qualify plenty into the evenings finals. Caitlin Hartley also managed to set a new meet record in the heats of the 100m breaststroke. Our first finalist that night was Tommy Fenwick in the junior 400m free final. He finished in 6th place. Next was the turn of his brother, Oliver, along with K-ets Yah-Khai. They placed 10th and 7th respectively. Our next swimmer was Daniel Williams who took on the 200m butterfly and finished in 4th, just outside the medals. Our female backstrokers were next, this time swimming the 100m distance. In the B final, Summer finished 8th while Camille came 6th in the A final. The 100m free was next in the program and Ben Davison had qualified for the B final where he placed 8th. The women’s 100m breaststroke A final followed and in a very close finish, Caitlin claimed silver just .04 seconds behind the winner. Her brother, Lucas, was in the 50m breaststroke A final just afterwards and touched in 9th place. Leo Sims raced in the grassroots 200m IM next and finished in 7th place. Our final swimmer of the night was Sam Jeffrey in the A final of the 200m IM. In a race where the lead changed position throughout, Sam took the win in a close finish.

The final day on the meet was held on a Monday and so was slightly quieter due to some parents needing to be at work. That didn’t stop our swimmers from performing well, having fun and qualifying for more finals though! Our first swimmer of the night was Honor Beverstock in the 100m butterfly B final where she placed 10th. Directly after her race, Leo Sims swam the 200m breaststroke grassroots final and touched the wall in 9th. Camille was also 9th in her 200m backstroke final just a few minutes later. Leo was in action again in the grassroots 200m free final where he placed 5th and his brother, George was 9th. Our final finalist of the meet was Jorgi Bhasvi in the junior final of the 200m IM where she placed 7th.

Overall, it was a good meet with a lot of useful experience gained. The competition was bigger and faster than last year and is sure to grow again future years. It was a well run competition in an iconic pool that all the swimmers enjoy competing in. Thank you to all the parents, coaches and team managers that endured very long days to ensure our swimmers had a good experience!