Sporting scholars on the podium in Paris as Bath-associated athletes write their names into the history books
University of Bath-associated athletes finished with two gold medals, three silver, one bronze and a host of historic achievements from the Olympic Games after two weeks of outstanding competition in Paris.
Four of the medals were won by current or former Bath sporting scholars, with (pictured top, from left) swimmer Tom Dean, artistic swimmer Kate Shortman, judoka Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz and rower Becky Wilde all having been supported by the University as they pursued their dual sporting and academic careers.
Dean became a triple Olympic Champion when he helped the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay quartet – also featuring Duncan Scott and former Bath training partners James Guy and Matt Richards – magnificently retain the title they won in Tokyo. It was the first time the same group of athletes had won gold in the same event in successive Games.
Kieran Bird – who, like Dean, has trained with the Aquatics GB Bath Performance Centre since 2018 – also brought home relay gold after his superb swim in the 4x200m freestyle relay heats, while University of Bath Swimming Club’s Ben Proud finally added an Olympic medal to his extensive collection with silver in the 50m freestyle.
Dean – whose Mechanical Engineering studies are currently on hold – is a former Bill Whiteley Sporting Scholar and a current recipient is Shortman, who studies International Management and Modern Languages (French).
She and partner Izzy Thorpe made history on the penultimate day of the Games as they won Britain’s first-ever artistic swimming medal – an incredible silver in the Duet competition. They sat just outside the medals after the Technical routine before producing the highest-scored Free routine to move up to second overall.
Also creating history was Sports Performance graduate Awiti-Alcaraz, who became Mexico’s first-ever Olympic medallist in judo when she won women’s -63kg silver in the Champ-de-Mars Arena after a series of outstanding performances.
Awiti-Alcaraz, who trained with Team Bath Judo from 2015 to 2021, is a former Santander Sporting Scholar, as is Sport and Social Sciences alumna Wilde who marked only her third senior international rowing regatta with bronze in the women’s double scull.
It was a remarkable result for Wilde – who made the switch from swimming to rowing in her second year at university – and again provided a moment of history as partner Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne became the first mother to win a medal for Britain in Olympic rowing.
Other notable achievements were fifth-placed finishes in swimming relays for Bath Performance Centre duo Freya Anderson and Jacob Whittle; top-10 placings for Pentathlon GB’s Kerenza Bryson and Joe Choong in their respective modern pentathlon finals; and a hard-earned 20th place for marathon swimmer Leah Crisp – who graduated in Economics and Mathematics in July – in a challenging women’s 10km race in the River Seine.
Sadly defending champion Kate French had to withdraw from the women’s modern pentathlon final through illness after looking in excellent form during the semi-final.
In total, 23 athletes who train, study or studied at the University of Bath competed on the biggest sporting stage of all across eight sports – artistic swimming, athletics, eventing, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, rugby 7s and swimming – and representing seven different countries – Great Britain, Angola, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Sweden and the United States.
Among the ranks were five current students – Shortman; Charlie Brown (modern pentathlon, Sports Management and Coaching); Henriques Mascarenhas (swimming, Chemical Engineering); Ridhwan Mohamed (swimming, Automotive Engineering with Business Management); and Sofia Sjöborg (eventing, Integrated Mechanical and Electrical Engineering)
Attention now turns to the Paralympic Games, which run from Wednesday 28th August to Sunday 8th September. Seven athletes who train at the University will be in action – Dan Bethell (para-badminton), Suzanna Hext (para-swimming), Michael Taylor (para-triathlon) and defending champion Piers Gilliver, Gemma Collis, Dimitri Coutya and Oliver Lam-Watson (wheelchair fencing). All have won medals on the international stage and will be hoping to add to their collection in Paris.
Picture credits: Alamy Stock Photo
