Five gold provides seasonal cheer for Bath students Joshua Gammon and Jemima Hall at Swim England Winter Short Course Champs
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 an excellent cycle for the student club.
Sports Performance student Gammon, coached by Andrei Vorontsov, went under 50 seconds for the first time as he stormed to 100m butterfly gold in 49.87. He then finished nearly four seconds of the field in the 200m butterfly (1:51.88) before completing a clean sweep of butterfly titles in the 50m (22.55).
Business student Hall – who, like Gammon, is supported by the Team Bath Dual Career Programme and TASS (Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme) – won gold in both the 50m backstroke (27.87) and 100m freestyle (54.44), as well as freestyle bronze over 200m (1:56.75) and 400m (4:07.58).
Backstroke specialist Niamh Ward, who studies Civil Engineering, won 200m silver (2:07.67) and 100m bronze (59.23), while University of Bath Swimming Club team-mate Jana Spinner claimed 100m individual medley silver (1:02.32) and 100m breaststroke bronze (1:08.21). She was also victorious in the Senior finals of the 100m freestyle (55.26) and 50m breaststroke (31.60) during a busy week.
Sustainability and Management postgraduate student Kat Price won 200m butterfly bronze (2:10.58) and narrowly missed the podium in the 100m final (1:00.35), and there were further fourth-placed finishes for Hall (100m backstroke, 59.93), Anna Farrow (100m IM, 1:02.89) and Archie Evans (50m backstroke, 24.87).
The Senior Finals saw victories for Data Science student Luis Weekes in the 200m breaststroke (2:13.38) and recent Pan-American Games competitor Sam Williamson in the 100m IM (55.93). Runners-up spots went to Farrow (100m freestyle, 55.93), Emily Morgan-Hughes (100m IM, 1:03.84) and Maisie Gifford (200m freestyle, 2:00.34), and Kaleb Fox-Jones was third in the 100m freestyle (49.29).
Team Bath AS Swimming Club’s Rue Fowler, who also trains in the London 2012 Legacy Pool at the Team Bath Sports Training Village, enjoyed an excellent week including 50m backstroke bronze (28.11) and a fourth-placed finish in the 50m butterfly (27.21).
The Irish National Short Course Championships saw Naeve Pountney set new PBs in all four of her swims and win 200m backstroke bronze, a performance matched in the 200m butterfly by Isaac Dodds at the Scottish Nationals.
Henrique Mascarenhas set new Angolan national records in both the 50m and 100m freestyle while competing at the Portuguese Nationals, while the Netherlands SC Championship saw Hendrik Van Der Leest record four PBs and finish just outside the medals in the 200m backstroke.
Mascarenhas also competed over long course at the 2023 Combra Swimming Open alongside team-mate Ridhwan Mohamed, who recorded a new PB as he finished runner-up in the 400m freestyle.
Click here to find out more about the swimming programme at the University of Bath, including public access to the Olympic-sized pool.
Pictured top: (From left) Jana Spinner, Niamh Ward, Joshua Gammon, Jemima Hall, Ekaterina Price and Rue Fowler all won medals at the 2023 Swim England National Winter Short Course Championships. CREDIT: Swim England/Will Johnston Photography
