New PBs for Jack Skerry and Josh Gammon as Bath-based swimmers gain invaluable experience at Paris 2026 European Aquatics Champs
Sporting scholar Jack Skerry contested his first senior final for Aquatics GB as emerging University of Bath-based swimmers gained more international experience at the Paris 2026 European Aquatics Championships.
Computer Science student Skerry (pictured), supported by a US Foundation Scholarship, set a big new personal best of 53.21 as he finished third in his 100m backstroke semi-final to qualify for Sunday’s final, where he clocked 53.65 to place eighth overall.
Skerry also raced three times in the 50m backstroke after being one of three swimmers to clock 24.90 in the heats. A time of 24.75 secured second spot in the swim-off and advanced him to the semi-finals, where he placed 15th overall in 24.82.
Bath Performance Centre team-mate Matthew Ward, who finished just behind Skerry in the 50m backstroke heats (25.18), reached the 100m backstroke semi-finals where a time of 53.65 saw him finish 12th overall.
Josh Gammon set a new personal best of 23.37 in the 50m butterfly and clocked a season’s best of 52.12 in the 100m butterfly, a time matched by training partner Jacob Peters.
University of Bath Student Swimming Club’s Hendrik van der Leest, who graduated in Chemical Engineering with Environmental Engineering this summer, represented the Netherlands in Paris, placing 26th in the 200m butterfly (2:00.46) and 31st in the 200m backstroke (2:00.33).
Van der Leest, coached by Mark Skimming and Andrei Vorontsov, had set a new 200m butterfly lifetime best of 2:00.11 while qualifying for the Europeans at the Dutch National Championships in July.
Visit teambath.com/swimming to find out more about the swimming programme at the University of Bath.
Photo credit: European Aquatics.
