Hard work reaps it reward as University of Bath swimmer Luke Turley prepares to make World Aquatics Championships debut
Five years of hard work will pay off for University of Bath-based Luke Turley when he makes his senior British Swimming debut at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Turley and fellow debutant Cameron Brooker – a Mechanical Engineering student supported by an Ivor Powell Sporting Scholarship – are among seven Performance Centre Bath athletes competing in the swimming section of the championships, along with Jacob Peters, Brodie Williams and Olympic gold-medallists Freya Anderson, Tom Dean and James Guy.
When he takes to the pool for the 400m freestyle heats on Sunday (23rd July), it will be the next major step on a long journey for Turley who first arrived at the University in 2018.
He combined training with studying Sports Performance for the first three years, where he was supported by Goldsmith and Santander Scholarships, and has been self-funded for the past couple of years as he pursues his dream of competing at the Olympic Games.
“I’ve put in a lot of work over the past few years,” said Turley, who is coached by Jamie Main at the Team Bath Sports Training Village. “Some people jump right into the team but my experience has been one of gradual improvement and slowly getting there.
“I narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, which could have been disheartening but I knew I had to look forward, get a good block of training in and push on. I qualified for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games last year and that gave me that little extra confidence, especially when I won a bronze medal in the 1,500m freestyle.
“I’ve stuck at it, stayed hungry and now I’ve qualified for the World Champs, which is really exciting and the perfect set-up for Olympic year. We’ve been working on a few things in training, so I want to hit those in competition and see if they bring me quicker times rather than focussing on the times themselves.
“It’s about gaining experience from a big meet and getting used to competing under that pressure, seeing what I can learn and take into a big year ahead.”
Turley supports his swimming by working for a doctor, delivering inspirational sports lessons to pupils through Athletes in Schools, and coaching the University of Bath’s student recreational squad under the guidance of Head of Swimming Mark Skimming.
“I’ve really enjoyed the coaching and I’ve missed it since the semester finished,” he said. “It’s been busy but I find it really beneficial to focus on something that is outside my own swimming.
“It’s also helped me focus on my own stroke too. One of the squad asked me for some technical advice around the turn and I had to really think. I’ve been doing it for so long that it’s just natural, so it was good to think about the mechanics and break it down.”
The pool swimming section of the World Aquatics Championships runs from 23-30 July. The event got under way last weekend with the open-water swimming, where Economics and Mathematics student Leah Crisp – supported by a Santander Scholarship – finished 21st in the women’s 10km on her major championships debut.
Bill Whiteley Scholar Kate Shortman, who studies International Management and Modern Languages (French) at the University, is competing in the artistic swimming events along with Sports Performance students Daniella Lloyd and Robyn Swatman.
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