Super six golds among 27-medal haul for University of Bath student-athletes at BUCS Nationals 2026
University of Bath student-athletes won 27 medals, six of them gold, across four different sports when they represented The SU Bath at BUCS Nationals 2026 in Sheffield.
The top-performing individual athlete was swimmer Jack Skerry who won both the 50m and 100m backstroke titles at Ponds Forge. The US Foundation Scholar also struck gold for Bath in the 4x100m medley relay with Christian Ryan, Matt Ward and Cam Brooker.
The latter, an Ivor Powell Scholar, marked his last BUCS competition by winning 200m backstroke gold, ahead of team-mate Hendrik van der Leest, and finishing runner-up to Skerry in the 50m backstroke.
Bill Whiteley Scholar Ward completed an all-Bath podium in the 50m backstroke (pictured top) and won silver and bronze in the 50m and 100m butterfly respectively.
Ward, Skerry and Brooker – all part of the Aquatics GB Bath Performance Centre coached by David McNulty – also teamed up with Matthew Baker to secure silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
University of Bath Student Performance Swimming Squad member Van der Leest, coached by Andrei Vorontsov and Mark Skimming, enjoyed a strong championships, adding 100m backstroke and 200m butterfly bronze to his 200m backstroke silver.
Backstroke specialist Niamh Ward also excelled, winning 100m and 200m silver plus 50m bronze, and there was a fantastic third-place finish for Jess Podger in the 400m freestyle.
In all there were 17 medals and 54 top-10 placings for Bath student swimmers, securing them third place in each of the men’s, women’s and overall team rankings.
The University’s Student Performance Sport Athletics Squad, coached by Colin Bovell, also ranked third overall after three excellent days of competition at the English Institute of Sport Sheffield.
Ariyanna McGee set a new personal best of 8.26 while winning the 60m hurdles, while Goldsmith Scholar Luke Ball (2.06m) and Evelyne Fontayne (1.70m) both cleared season’s bests as they won silver and bronze in their respective high jump competitions.
Tobias Cheesborough clocked 1:52.22 for 800m bronze and Isaac Skinner-Kakitie’s PB of 6.79 earned him third place in a thrilling men’s 60m final where the top four were separated by just six-hundredths of a second.
There was more Bath success in the fencing hall at the Canon Medical Arena where Ezgi Kocer showed great composure and determination to secure gold in the senior women’s sabre, recording 15-14 successes in both the semi-final and final.
Giovanni Ferraioli also produced a single-point victory in the quarter-final of the senior mixed epee before narrowly losing 15-9 to eventual champion Louis Taiwo in the semis, meaning he took bronze.
There were three kumite individual bronze medals for the University’s karate club. Daleep Birk and Ren Venn both placed third in the male novice LW-70kg category, as did Aron Schmidt in the male seniors +84kg division.
Harry Jones was Bath Badminton Club’s best performer in Sheffield, winning two matches on the way to the men’s singles quarter-final where he was edged out 15-21 24-22 15-21 by eventual gold-medallist Kaylan Jensen.
Bath was also represented at the UK’s largest annual multi-sport event by 12 students in the climbing competition.
Find out more about combining study and sport at the University of Bath by visiting teambath.com/student and thesubath.com/sport.
Roll of honour
Athletics
Gold: Ariyanna McGee (women’s 60m hurdles).
Silver: Luke Ball (men’s high jump).
Bronze: Tobias Cheesborough (men’s 800m); Evelyne Fontayne (women’s high jump); Isaac Skinner-Kakitie (men’s 60m).
Fencing
Gold: Ezgi Kocer (senior women’s sabre).
Bronze: Giovanni Ferraioli (senior mixed epee).
Karate
Bronze: Daleep Birk (kumite individual male novice LW-70kg); Ren Venn (kumite individual male novice LW-70kg); Aron Schmidt (kumite individual male seniors +84kg).
Swimming
Gold: Cam Brooker (men’s 200m backstroke); Jack Skerry (men’s 50m backstroke; 100m backstroke); men’s 4x100m medley relay.
Silver: Cam Brooker (men’s 50m backstroke); Christian Ryan (men’s 200m breaststroke); Hendrik van der Leest (men’s 200m backstroke); Matt Ward (men’s 50m butterfly); Niamh Ward (women’s 100m backstroke; 200m backstroke); men’s 4x100m freestyle relay
Bronze: Jess Podger (women’s 400m freestyle); Hendrik van der Leest (men’s 100m backstroke; 200m butterfly); Matt Ward (men’s 100m butterfly; 50m backstroke); Niamh Ward (women’s 50m backstroke).
Click here to see a brilliant gallery of pictures from student photographer Luke Eminett.
