Imagine, aged 20, you’ve never been out of the country before. Imagine that the flight you board from the UK stops first at Basra, where the heat is somewhat unbelievable, before going on to Singapore (including an overnight at the world-famous Raffles Hotel) and then onward to Australia where local people line the streets to cheer and welcome the arriving athletes. For some it might have proved too much, generating nerve-jangling under-performance, but for Tom...
Anna Stembridge was pleased to see a youthful Team Bath Netball squad produce a highly-competitive performance against Severn Stars in their final external friendly before the 2021 Vitality Superleague season. The Blue & Gold – sponsored by Principal Partners Haines Watts alongside Team Bath overall sponsor Rengen – made the short journey to Worcester on Saturday without their England internationals involved in this week’s Vitality Netball Legends Series and the vastly experienced trio of Kim...
The pioneering SwimWall system that allows the Olympic-sized swimming pool at the Team Bath Sports Training Village to be adapted to a 25m facility has won two prizes at the annual UK Pool and Spa Awards. SR Smith, the US company that installed the turning board system in 2019, was awarded the Gold Standard for Pool Product of the Year and Silver Standard for Commercial Pool Project of the Year. The SwimWall, which sits on...
Fifteen swimmers who train at the University of Bath, including seven students and Olympic and Paralympic medallists, have been named in the first-ever England Swimming Team ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The larger-than-normal team of 85 swimmers in total brings together everyone who will be considered for selection for Team England at the Commonwealth Games next year. Among them are four University of Bath sporting scholars – Natural Sciences student Jacob Greenow,...
Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher says he is excited to get back into competition and see where he is on the global stage as he prepares to compete in this week’s Doha Masters event in Qatar. Fletcher and sister Megan, a Commonwealth Champion who also trains with Team Bath, will be representing Ireland on the international circuit for only the second time since the Coronavirus pandemic forced competition to be suspended last March, while University...
Craig Thompson continued Great Britain’s strong start to the IBSF Skeleton World Cup season with a career-best fifth in Winterberg on Friday. The University of Bath-based team ended 2020 with two World Cup medals to their name and weren’t far off adding to that tally at the start of 2021 as Thompson finished just 36 hundredths of a second behind home favourite Alexander Gassner in third. The result beat Thompson's previous best of sixth, a...
University of Bath sporting scholars Orlando Bailey and Ethan Staddon have been named in the England Rugby U20s’ Elite Player Squad for 2021. The first-year students, who are supported by Matrix and Santander Scholarships respectively, have previously represented England at U18 level but are making the step-up to U20s for the first time. Fly-half Bailey, who is studying International Development with Economics, made his first senior appearance for Bath Rugby in September, while Natural Sciences...
It could not have been more different to the year we were eagerly looking forward to but there has still been much to celebrate and be thankful for at Team Bath during a challenging 2020. From the versatility, ingenuity and positive attitude of staff, athletes, coaches, students and customers adapting to the ever-changing ‘new normal’ to more traditional markers of success such as international medals and national awards, it has certainly been a year that...
Matt Weston won men’s skeleton World Cup silver in just his fifth-ever race on the sport’s top circuit as University of Bath-based sliders continued their excellent start to the 2020-21 international season. The former taekwondo and rugby player finished fourth in last week’s World Cup race in Igls but deservedly claimed a podium place on the same track this time, with only Latvian legend Martins Dukurs finishing ahead of him in the 18-strong field. “I’ve...
Team Bath Netball and England defender Layla Guscoth has been named among the Daily Telegraph's 2020 Sportswomen of the Year in recognition of her off-court work with the NHS in the fight against Covid-19. Guscoth has returned to Bath after two years playing professionally in Australia as she wants to concentrate on her dual careers of netballer and doctor, having completed her two-year Foundation postgraduate medical training programme during her previous spell with the Blue...
