Winter Nationals Report

Winter Nationals December 2024

Our swimmers have been competing at the only National short course event of the year, Swim England Winter Nationals at Ponds Forge, over 4 days last week. 

Our Queens of the pool Imogen Clark and Georgina Pryor once again prevailed against some tough opposition. 

Imogen Clark (25) won GOLD in the 100m breaststroke – with a heat swim of 1:07.80 to qualify in third place, then smashed the final to win in a time of 1:05.79, nearly a second ahead of Loughborough Performance Centre’s Elizabeth Booker. Imi took a second GOLD in 50m breaststroke 29.68s, with the second place swimmer 1.32 seconds behind her! As you may be aware, Imi is the British record holder in this event, and once again dominated in this event. 

Georgie Pryor (26) produced a blistering swim for GOLD in the 100m butterfly, the very last race of the whole meet. She swam 59.26s in the heat to qualify 5^th for the final, then produced a storming swim in the final, clocking 57.33s for the win. Her underwaters were superb, particularly after the last wall, pulling her ahead of the field. G also took a silver in the 50m butterfly with 26.43s. She also had a 4^th place finish in 50m backstroke with 27.40s, 5^th in 100m backstroke (59.27s) and 6^th in 100m freestyle. 

Anna Tyers (16) raced in four events, winning a silver medal in the 50m backstroke. Anna improved on her entry time by half a second, clocking 28.49s. Anna narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle where she swam 56.16 for 4^th. She was also 4^th in 100m backstroke with a personal best time of 1:00.80 and 7^th in 50m butterfly.

Marija Romanovskaja (18) swam the 100m freestyle, qualifying for the B final, where she came 9^th. She was also 9^th in the B final of the 50m freestyle in 25.91, a new PB.

George Whittle (18) raced the 100m backstroke, finishing joint 8^th in the A final with 54.64s, a big PB (entry time 55.00s). He also swam the 50m backstroke, finishing 21^st in the heat with 25.55, a PB (previous best 26.11), and was 2^nd in the B final in 25.09s, a huge PB. George was 22^nd in 100m individual medley in 57.19s, a PB of 2 seconds on his entry time of 59.43s.  

Alex Harrand (19) was 15^th in 200m freestyle with a time of 1:49.53, making the B final where he came 9^th. 

We also had success across the meet in many events. The junior age band is up to age 17, so some of our younger swimmers were against swimmers much older than themselves, yet gained great results. 

Laurel Roberts-Burrell (17) raced the 50m backstroke where he qualified for the junior final where he came 10^th. He was 26^th in 50m butterfly, in 25.39s, and produced a personal best of 23.64s in 50m freestyle, finishing in 26^th. 

Jaden Leo (15) raced 100m breaststroke, finishing 30^th 1:05.25, then smashed his 200m breaststroke PB of 2.26.52, posting 2:22.00 to finish 30^th. He improved his entry time of 24.57s in 50m freestyle to post 23.72 for 32^nd. He was 34^thin 50m breaststroke, and 57^th in 50m butterfly. 

Roman Levchenko (16) improved his personal best in 100m butterfly by nearly a second, swimming a time of 57.62 for 37^th place. He was 52th in 100m freestyle with another PB. He was 59^th in 50m butterfly and 61^st in 50m freestyle. 

Jacob Pemberton (15) was 56^th in the 200m backstroke in 2:08.58, a huge PB over a second over his entry time of 2.09.77.

Tom Trueman (20) was 28^th in 50m freestyle, with a time of 22.95s, and was 27^th in 100m freestyle.  

Miley Aram (15) was 54^th in 50m butterfly, with a time of 29.01s.

Dylan Jamieson (16) was 77^th in 400m freestyle, 74^th in 50m backstroke, 75^th in 800m freestyle, and 93^rd in 100m backstroke but a great learning experience over the meet. 

Charlotte Hall (22) swam the 50m backstroke, coming =71^st.

Eden Saint (14) swam 100m breaststroke, finishing 79^th in 1:08.30

Ethan Lawton (23) was 80^th in 100m backstroke, and 88^th in 50m backstroke. 

Seb Ebanks (17) raced 50m backstroke, finishing 74^th

Well done to everyone – this is a great meet to practice race skills short course, against some tough opposition including current Olympians. As a club we were near the top of the medals table once again, congratulations to our swimmers and coaches.