With the dawn of a new Olympic and Paralympic year upon us, University of Bath-based sportspeople will be looking to build on the outstanding global success they enjoyed during a memorable 2023. Six athletes were crowned as World Champions – Joe Choong (modern pentathlon); Matt Weston (skeleton); Tom Dean, James Guy and Suzanna Hext (swimming); and Piers Gilliver (wheelchair fencing) – while others secured historic podium placings and continental crowns. In total a stunning 74...
Dr Tom Hudson, who served as the University of Bath’s first Director of Sport from 1971 to 1992, sadly passed away on Tuesday (19th December). A passionate advocate of helping students achieve at the highest level of sport while continuing successfully with their academic studies, Tom’s trailblazing spell saw Bath become the first University in the UK to offer sporting scholarships. He also oversaw the opening of the original sports hall, now known as Founders...
Joshua Gammon capped a fantastic 2023 by winning a hat-trick of gold medals and Jemima Hall bagged two titles as University of Bath swimmers excelled at the GoCardless Swim England National Winter Short Course Championships in Sheffield. There were further impressive performances by fellow University of Bath Performance Swimming squad members at the Dutch, Irish, Portuguese and Scottish championships too, with more than 50 per cent of swimmers recording personal bests at the culmination of...
World Champion Matt Weston recorded his first win of the 2023-24 IBSF Skeleton World Cup season on another strong day for University of Bath-based sliders in Innsbruck, Austria. Fellow Brit Tabby Stoecker also won her second medal in as many weeks as she followed up her gold from last Friday by claiming a brilliant bronze in the women's race on only her third World Cup appearance. Weston, who trains with the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton...
The University of Bath men’s 1st XV are going into the Christmas break on a high after rallying from 17-5 down to beat old rivals Loughborough 31-17 in a BUCS Super Rugby classic at the Team Bath Sports Training Village on Wednesday. Their last match of 2023 saw the Bath Building Society-sponsored hosts concede two early Jacob Cusick tries, both converted by Morgan Meredith, as they found quickly found themselves 14-0 down to the second-placed...
Team Bath Netball’s Jayda Pechova helped England secure a hard-earned Vitality Netball International Series victory over South Africa. It was a first Vitality Roses senior appearance on home soil for the 19-year-old defender, who came off the bench in all three matches as England eventually came out on top 2-1 overall. University of Bath Trendell Sporting Scholar Pechova’s home debut came in the closing stages of Wednesday’s 54-51 victory in front of a record crowd...
A superb 200m freestyle gold for University of Bath-based Freya Anderson on the last night of competition ensured British Swimming finished top of the medal table at the 2023 European Short-Course Championships in Otopeni, Romania. It was a fifth medal of the week for British Swimming Performance Centre Bath star Anderson, who also anchored the mixed 4x50m freestyle relay quartet to victory in a British and Championship record time. Team-mate Jacob Peters notched his first...
Tabby Stoecker won a stunning gold in only her second ISBF World Cup race as University of Bath-based British Skeleton athletes claimed a full set of medals in La Plagne, France on Friday. World Champion Matt Weston and fellow Olympian Marcus Wyatt also finished second and third respectively in the men’s race as the GB squad excelled at the second international event of the 2023-24 season. Reigning Junior European Champion Stoecker produced two consistent performances...
The University of Bath-based British wheelchair fencing team won one gold, one silver and three bronze medals at the last World Cup of the year in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand – contested as part of the 2023 World Abilitysport Games. Dimitri Coutya got the week off to an outstanding start, his dominance in the Category B foil competition underlined by a 15-3 victory over France’s Maxime Valet in the final. He only conceded eight hits in...
The University of Bath men’s 1st XV saw a spirited comeback fall just short as they slipped to a narrow 35-33 BUCS Super Rugby home defeat to Durham on Wednesday. A pulsating top-four contest at the Team Bath Sports Training Village saw the Bath Building Society-sponsored hosts twice lead in the first half through a brace of tries from Number 8 Ted Johnson, both converted by Iwan Price-Thomas. Durham replied in kind on both occasions...
