Joshua Gammon’s golden hat-trick helps University of Bath student-swimmers excel at BUCS Short Course Championships

An 18-medal haul, including a golden hat-trick from Joshua Gammon, ensured University of Bath student swimmers enjoyed their strongest performance for many years at the 2024 BUCS Short Course Championships.
The women’s team finished second and the men’s team were third as Bath secured a top-three finish overall with 710 points after an excellent weekend of racing at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.
Sports Performance student Gammon (pictured top), fresh from being named in the Aquatics GB squad for the 2024 World Aquatics Short Course Championships in Budapest, produced a clean sweep of titles in the 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly.

Fellow British international Cam Brooker, a Mechanical Engineering student supported by an Ivor Powell Scholarship, also struck gold in the 200m backstroke and won 50m backstroke silver plus bronze in both the 200m freestyle and 100m individual medley (IM).
Integrated Mechanical and Electrical Engineering fresher Matt Ward, representing Bath at BUCS for the first time, achieved six top-five finishes during a busy weekend including silver in the 100m backstroke and 100m IM plus 50m backstroke bronze.
Gammon, Brooker and Ward – all members of the Aquatics GB Bath Performance Centre squad – then won silver in the men’s relays, joined by Rob Darbyshire for the 4x50m freestyle and William Godsell for the 4x50m relay.
There were also bronze medals for US Foundation Scholar Jack Skerry in the 100m backstroke and Chemical Engineering student Hendrik Van Der Leest in the 200m backstroke.
University of Bath Swimming Club’s Niamh Ward was Bath’s most successful swimmer in the women’s races, winning 100m backstroke silver and 50m backstroke bronze. The Civil Engineering student also bagged a bronze medal in the 4x50m medley relay along with Emily Morgan-Hughes, Maisie Elliott and Jemima Hall.
The previous night had seen Business student Hall anchor the 4x50m freestyle relay team of Annabel Smith, Anna Farrow and Jess Podger to another third-place finish.

Hall (100m freestyle, 50m backstroke), Farrow (400m IM) and Podger (400m freestyle) had all finished just off the podium in individual races, while Skerry was fourth in both the 50m and 200m backstroke.
B final victories were recorded by Hubert Gdaniec (men’s 200m backstroke, Morgan-Hughes (women’s 100m breaststroke) and Podger (women’s 200m freestyle).
Find out more about the student-swimming programme at the University of Bath by visiting teambath.com/student-swimming.
Roll of honour
Gold: Cam Brooker (men’s 200m backstroke); Joshua Gammon (men’s 50m butterfly, men’s 100m butterfly, men’s 200m butterfly).
Silver: Cam Brooker (men’s 50m backstroke); Niamh Ward (women’s 100m backstroke); Matt Ward (men’s 100m backstroke, men’s 100m IM); men’s 4x50m freestyle relay; men’s 4x50m medley relay.
Bronze: Cam Brooker (men’s 200m freestyle, men’s 100m IM); Jack Skerry (men’s 100m backstroke); Hendrik Van Der Leest (men’s 200m backstroke); Niamh Ward (women’s 50m backstroke); Matt Ward (men’s 50m backstroke); women’s 4x50m freestyle relay; women’s 4x50m medley relay.