Sporting scholar Leah Crisp “over the moon” after earning Paris 2024 Olympic Games marathon swimming quota place for Team GB
University of Bath sporting scholar Leah Crisp says she is “over the moon” after securing a Paris 2024 Olympic Games quota place for Team GB in marathon swimming.
The Economics and Mathematics student, supported by a Santander Sporting Scholarship, finished 17th overall in the women’s 10km race at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha to earn Britain one of the 13 quota spots still available for this summer.
A well-paced race saw Crisp, part of David McNulty’s British Swimming Performance Centre Bath elite training group based at the University, sit in the top 12 for much of a race that saw swimmers complete six laps of a 1.6km course set in the choppy seas of Old Doha Port.
The final 3km saw a big push from the rest of the field for the all-important qualifying places but Crisp battled through to achieve her pre-race goal.
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“I got to the last lap and thought, ‘everything I’ve got left, let’s use it and see what I can do’,” said Crisp, who is only in her second season of open-water swimming after transitioning from the pool where she has won a host of medals for the University in BUCS student competition.
“I got a bit stuck around the second buoy on the last lap and lost a few places, so I just had to absolutely go for it down the final kilometre. It was quite stressful, really hard and everyone was just really gunning for it but I obviously managed to pull it back enough.
“So many years have gone into this, a lot of hours and hard work, dedication and graft. I have big relief but also I’m so over the moon.”
Team GB’s Olympic swimming squad will be confirmed later in the year, with the women’s marathon swimming race taking place in the Seine River in central Paris on Saturday 8th August.
Follow Bath-based athletes on their journeys to this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games at teambath.com/Paris-2024.
