Swim England Winter Nationals Report: 2023

After a wet and windy drive up to Sheffield and a brief stop at the motorway services on the M1, Coaches Chris and Jan arrived at Ponds Forge for a Wednesday afternoon training session with the team in preparation for the 2023 Swim England Winter Nationals. The 2023 Championships ran over a four-day period from Thursday 14^th December to Sunday 17^th December with the fastest 6 heats being swum in the morning and the remaining heats being swum in the afternoon. In the evening session there were opportunities to race in Open finals (top 10 overall), Senior finals (next top 10 aged 18 & over) and Youth finals (next top ten aged 17 & under). Our Head Coach Barry was on hand to lend his support from Ontario in Canada having been appointed as Head Coach with the British Youth team. Barry kept in touch with the team from a distance and watched most of the races on the live stream. This year we had 12 qualifiers who were prepped and ready to take on some of the best swimmers in the country.

As a club we had some fantastic results so read on as you will see that our swimmers did not disappoint. The 12 swimmers competing were:

Male swimmers:

Freddie B: 50m, 100m 200m & Breaststroke

Frank C: 50m Breaststroke

Freddie H: 50m & 100m Backstroke

Arron H: 800m & 1500m Freestyle

Ollie J: 100m IM & 200m IM; 50m, 100m & 200m Breaststroke,

Charlie M: 50m & 100m Backstroke

Luca S: 100m Butterfly, 100m Backstroke

Hugo Y: 200m IM, 50m, 100m & 200m Freestyle, 50m, 100m & 200m Butterfly

Female swimmers:

Halle H: 50m & 100m Freestyle, 50m & 100m Backstroke, 50m & 100m Butterfly, 100m IM

Jes H: 50m, 100m & 200m Butterfly, 50m Backstroke; 100m IM

Aimie Q: 400m IM, 200m Backstroke

Betsy V: 100m Backstroke, 100m IM

Overview and results:

Freddie B started off his schedule with the 50m Breaststroke. Freddie swam a well-paced race to finish a very respectable 28^th position (Youth) in a time of 30.05. In the 100m event Freddie improved once again on his personal best time to finish in 24^th place overall (Youth) in a time of 1’05.94. In his best event of the week Freddie came 11^th (Youth) which made him first reserve for the Youth final. His instructions were to go out efficiently, keeping his stroke long and gradually build into the race. He did this perfectly and looked strong throughout as he finished the race in a personal best time of 2’20.16. This time pushed him well up the rankings and he narrowly missed out on the youth final to finish in 11^th place. This was a superb and spirited swim from Freddie who had only just celebrated his 16^th birthday. Freddie also broke the club record he already held for 16-year-old boys.

15-year-old all-rounder Hugo Y had a particularly busy schedule having qualified for 7 events in total. On Thursday morning Hugo swam in 3 events with very little time to rest. He started off with a well-paced 200m Individual Medley swim. His time of 2’12.70 placed him in 50th place (Youth). Hugo was quickly back in the pool to race 50m Freestyle where he destroyed his previous best time by over a second to finish in 24.05 which made him the 29^th fastest youth swimmer. Perhaps more notably, this time also set a new Junior short course Club record. Hugo rounded off a busy morning with the 100m Butterfly event finishing with a time of 58.59. Returning to the pool on Friday morning Hugo demonstrated that his 100m Freestyle was equally good as he set another personal best time of 52.83 with another fantastic swim. Not satisfied with this he then raced a challenging 200m Butterfly finishing in 37^th place (Youth). After a good overnight rest Hugo was back at the pool on Saturday afternoon to race his one of his favourite events the 50m Butterfly along with the 200m Freestyle. In the 50m Butterfly Hugo showed some great skills to finish with yet another best time of 25.39. His time made him the 19^th fastest youth swimmer which was great to see when he was competing against several 17-year-olds. Hugo’s busy programme finished with the 200m Freestyle which placed him 57^th overall.

Distance dynamo Arron H impressed Coach Jan with an amazing 800m Freestyle swim on Thursday afternoon. Swimming in the slowest heat of the day Arron produced a 15 second personal best time which pushed him up the rankings to finish in 41^st place (Youth). With only a day’s rest in between, Arron had another fantastic swim in the 1500m Freestyle event where he bettered his time by 14 seconds with a time of 16’34.50 to finish in 33^rd place overall (Youth). Arron looked strong and efficient as he held the length on his stroke nicely throughout both of his races with very even split times. On reflection we felt that this made the difference to his finishing times.

Frank C swam a super 50m Breaststroke recording a time of 30.79. Frank was thrilled to record a personal best time and dip under the 31 second mark for the first time. Overall, Frank placed 54^th of all the youth swimmers and everyone agreed that he was a great addition to the team this year.

Freddie H began his week with a 100m Backstroke swim on Thursday afternoon. Having qualified for this event with an entry time of 1:00.04 Freddie managed to dip under the 1-minute mark for the first time swimming a time of 59.25. This pushed Freddie up the rankings to finish in 54^th place. Freddie returned to the pool on Saturday afternoon to swim the 50m Backstroke event where he swam another personal best time of 27.27 to finish 31^st (Youth).  

Luca S had two back-to-back races on Thursday afternoon, his first race being the 100m Butterfly. Luca raced this event with determination to improve his best time by over a second finishing in a time of 57.92. After the race Luca said he was pleased with his swim which pushed him well up his ranking place to finish in 28^th place (Youth). Without a lot of rest Luca was soon back in the pool to race 100m Backstroke where he came in 74^th place overall (Youth).

Ollie J had a very busy schedule which began with the 200m IM on Thursday morning. Swimming a well-judged race, Ollie’s time of 2’04.03 was good enough to gain a place in the Senior final later in the evening. With his team mates out in force in the evening Ollie produced an even better swim to finish 7^th in 1 time of 2’03.05. After a good rest Ollie was back at the pool on Friday morning to compete in the 50m Breaststroke where he produced a best time of 28.32 which took him into his second Senior final of the week. Ollie was on top form again in this final to place 7^th again. Could he go one better we wondered? So, on Saturday morning Ollie raced in the 100m Breaststroke. His heat time earned him a place in the Senior final for the third time and in the evening, he swam a brilliant race to place 2^nd in a new personal best time of 1’00.81. Ollie had two races on Sunday morning where he claimed a place in two finals. To begin, he made the Open final of the 200m Breaststroke for the first time. He also made the Senior final of the 100m IM. Ollie is to be congratulated on stepping up on his heat time to finish 10^th in the 200m Breaststroke. Knowing that he only had one final left he then went on to produce a great final swim finishing 2^nd in the Senior 100m IM final having qualified in 9^th place. His time in this event was 56.24. Great swim Ollie! It was a pleasure to watch you swim this race. Over the course of the competition, Ollie set both Club and County records in the 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke events.

17-year-old backstroke boy, Charlie M, raced the 100m backstroke on Thursday morning. Charlie’s heat time of 55.76 gained him a place in the Youth final on Thursday evening. Charlie showed his relish for racing in finals as he was able to better his heat time and finish 6^th in the youth final with a time of 55.64. Charlie followed up his success on Sunday by making his second youth final on Sunday evening in the 50m Backstroke. Having watched the video of his heat Charlie felt that he could improve his turn and breakout, so he worked on these two components of the race in the warm up pool in the afternoon. His attention to detail paid off as he stepped up from 6^th place to 5^th place in the final with a best time of 25.73.   

And so, to the girls….

Aimie Q was our only Senior female swimmer this year. Aimie got her schedule underway on Friday afternoon with the 200m Backstroke which she paced well and finished in 25^th place (Senior). She followed this up with a tough 400m Individual Medley swim on Sunday morning where she placed 11^th (Senior). Aimie’s time of 5’06.14 was just outside her best time with the Butterfly and Backstroke parts of the race being swum well.

The team were delighted to see Betsy V making the Winter Nationals this year. Betsy qualified for 2 events which began with the 100m Individual Medley on Saturday afternoon. Betsy swam a very good race finishing in 31^st place (Youth). On Sunday morning Betsy was back at the pool to race 100m Backstroke where she swam a very good time of 1’04.06 to place her in 32^nd place (Youth). This was a commendable start for Besty who was making her debut in a Winter National competition.

Halle H was another swimmer with a busy schedule. Halle’s first events on Thursday morning were the 50m Backstroke and 50m Butterfly. Shortly after racing a very respectable time in the 50m Backstroke Coach Chris was called down to poolside to hear that Halle’s time of 29.22 put her in equal 10^th place. This meant that Halle had the opportunity to race in a “Swim Off” to stake a place in the Youth Final. More on this shortly…….

Halle followed up her Backstroke race with the 50m Butterfly where she placed 24^th (Youth). It was decided that the “Swim Off” would take place at the start of the evening finals session and what a race it was. Halle’s teammates came out in force to support her, and she swam a brilliant race which she won well setting a Junior short course Club and County record in the process. Having qualified for the youth final Halle did herself proud to finish in 3^rd place. Amazing Halle! After all the excitement of Thursday, Halle’s Friday was a little bit quieter as she finished 30^th and 21^st respectively in the 100m Backstroke and 100m Butterfly with two very good swims. Halle swam one event on Saturday which was the 100m Individual Medley where she bettered her best time. Halle concluded her programme on the last day with the 50m Freestyle and the 100m Backstroke. Halle produced a fine swim in the 50m Freestyle which earned her another swim in the youth finals. To conclude her programme Halle finished in 5^th place in this event in the evening finals to round off a very successful meet.

15-year-old Jes H began her programme with the same two events as Halle: 50m Backstroke and 50m Butterfly. Jes swam a best time in the 50m Backstroke placing 56^th (Youth). In the 50m Butterfly event Jes swam just outside her best time placing 60^th youth swimmer. Jes was determined to swim a good 100m Butterfly event on Friday which delivered a time of 1’02.72 and placed her in the youth finals on Friday evening. Jes pulled out an even better time of 1’02.29 in the final to finish in 7^th place which was very pleasing to see. Jes completed her programme on Saturday with the 100m Individual Medley and the 200m Butterfly. Jes raced a nice swim in the morning with a best time in the Individual Medley. She followed this up with another best time in the 200m Butterfly in the afternoon to set a Junior short course Club record of 2’19.43.

So, that was it as our time in Sheffield came to an end.

National events demand a high level of effort and commitment to perform at a high level over the course of a four-day event. This year the days were particularly long with morning warm ups starting at 07.45 and finals ending at round 20.30 in the evening.  This was an incredibly successful event for us with so many good performances, exciting heats, finals, records, and best times set. As a team, we are already looking forward to returning in 2024……. But we will be taking one or two days off to enjoy Christmas. Well done everyone!

And finally, we want to say a BIG thank you to our two team managers: Bev and Gemma for taking time off work to be with the team and offer their support. Thank you too to all our parents and family members who made the trip up to Sheffield with us and to everyone who supported us or followed our races via the live stream.

Jan & Chris

Senior Coaches

Poole SC