Cam Brooker’s golden hat-trick helps University of Bath swimmers achieve terrific top-three finish at BUCS Short Course Champs
Cam Brooker recorded a golden hat-trick at his final BUCS Short Course Swimming Championships as University of Bath students won 14 medals in total at the 2025 meet in Sheffield.
Fellow sporting scholars Jack Skerry and Matthew Ward also topped the podium as Bath swimmers won five gold, six silver and three bronze to place a fantastic third overall in the final team table.
Brooker, an Ivor Powell Scholar who is in the final year of a Mechanical Engineering degree, set a new meet record of 1:52.61 as he beat Aquatics GB Bath Performance Centre team-mate Ward to gold in the 200m backstroke. University of Bath Student Performance Swimming squad member Hendrik van der Leest just missed out on completing an all-Bath podium, finishing fourth.
There was another Brooker and Ward one-two in the 50m backstroke, with American Fund Sporting Scholar Skerry – a joint gold-medallist in the 100m backstroke with Stirling’s David Annis – finishing just hundredths of a second out of the medals in fourth.
Brooker’s other gold came on the opening night in a thrilling 100m freestyle final and he also bagged individual 200m freestyle silver, plus bronze in a 100m individual medley final won by Ward in a Scottish short-course record time of 52.78.
Bill Whiteley Scholar Ward, who studies Integrated Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, also won 100m butterfly silver, 200m IM bronze and 50m butterfly bronze.
Jack Skerry was joint first in the 100m backstroke with Stirling’s David Annis
Cam Brooker, right, and Matt Ward won gold and silver in both the 50m and 200m backstroke
It was Matt Ward’s turn to win gold in the 100m IM ahead of bronze-medallist Cam BrookerWard, Brooker and Skerry – all coached by David McNulty and Calum Jarvis at the Team Bath Sports Training Village – completed their medal hauls with relay silver in both the 200m freestyle, with Rob Darbyshire, and 200m medley, with William Godsell.
Van der Leest, coached by Andrei Vorontsov and Mark Skimming, was fourth in the 200m butterfly, a position matched by Anna Farrow in the women’s 400m IM.
Other A finalists were Matthew Baker, Hubert Gdaniec, Maisie Gilford, Jamie Gray, Alexa Mann, Jess Podger, Matilda Ransome, Christian Ryan, Ella Thornburg, Matthew Warburton, Niamh Ward and Sophie Weston, while Gilford and William Godsell both won their respective 100m freestyle and 50m breaststroke B finals.
The men’s 200m freestyle silver-medallists quartet including Rob Darbyshire (right)
The men’s 200m medley silver-medallists quartet including William Godsell (second from right)Visit teambath.com/swimming to find out more about the student swimming programme at the University of Bath.
Roll of honour
Gold: Cam Brooker (100m freestyle, 47.51; 200m backstroke, 1:52.61; 50m backstroke, 23.50); Jack Skerry (100m backstroke, 51.94 – joint 1st); Matthew Ward (100m IM, 52.78).
Silver: Cam Brooker (200m freestyle, 1:44.32); Matthew Ward (100m butterfly, 51.88; 200m backstroke, 1:54.39; 50m backstroke, 23.81); men’s 200m freestyle (Rob Darbyshire, Jack Skerry, Matthew Ward, Cam Brooker, 1:27.39); men’s 200m medley (Jack Skerry, William Godsell, Matthew Ward, Cam Brooker 1:35.59).
Bronze: Cam Brooker (100m IM, 52.98); Matthew Ward (200m IM, 1:57.89; 50m butterfly, 23.25).
A finalists
Open/men: Jack Skerry (4th, 50m backstroke, 24.02; 6th, 200m backstroke, 1:56.70); Hendrik van der Leest (4th, 200m backstroke, 1:55.05; 4th, 200m butterfly, 1:57.95; 6th, 100m backstroke, 53.49); Matthew Baker (5th, 400m freestyle, 3:50.97; 7th, 200m freestyle, 1:46.47; 9th, 800m freestyle, 8:06.74); Jamie Gray (8th, 200m backstroke, 1:59.32); Hubert Gdaniec (9th, 400m IM, 4:20.80); Matthew Warburton (9th, 1500m freestyle, 15:50.58); Christian Ryan (9th, 200m breaststroke, 2:12.94).
Women: Anna Farrow (4th, 400m IM, 4:50.34; 6th, 200m IM, 2:15.16); Niamh Ward (5th, 100m backstroke, 59.63; 5th, 50m backstroke, 28.07; 6th, 200m backstroke, 2:09.27); Maisie Gilford (5th, 50m freestyle, 25.20; 9th, 200m freestyle, 1:59.53; 9th, 100m IM, 1:03.23); Alexa Mann (6th, 1500m freestyle, 17:25.65); Jess Podger (5th, 800m freestyle, 8:41,11; 6th, 200m freestyle, 1:57.28; 7th, 400m freestyle, 4:08.91; 9th, 100m freestyle, 54.94); Sophie Weston (7th, 100m backstroke, 1:00.27; 7th, 50m backstroke, 28.12); Ella Thornburg (8th, 50m butterfly, 27.50); Matilda Ransome (10th, 400m IM, 4:57.89).
Relays: Mixed 200m medley, 7th, 1:43.70 (Cam Brooker, William Godsell, Maisie Gilford, Jess Podger); Women’s 200m freestyle, 6th, 1:42.00 (Maisie Gilford, Anna Farrow, Niamh Ward, Jess Podger); Women’s 200m medley, 6th, 1:52.62 (Niamh Ward, Caitlin Hartley, Maisie Gilford, Jess Podger).
