University of Bath leads world’s largest growth and maturation study in elite football to support early and late developers

The University of Bath, in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, has conducted the most extensive growth and maturation study in world football, helping reshape talent development pathways for young players in Scotland. Commissioned by the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and completed between January and April 2024, the research, published in the Journal of Sports Sciences, evaluated over 1,000 academy players in the Club Academy Scotland (CAS) system - making it the largest study of...

05 August 2025

Fifth global gold for Tom Dean as Aquatics GB dominate 4x200m freestyle relay once again at Singapore 2025 World Champs

Tom Dean has added a fifth global gold to his medal collection after helping Aquatics GB win another men’s 4x200m freestyle relay title at the Singapore 2025 World Aquatics Championships. The Bath Performance Centre Swimmer anchored GB to victory in the morning heats before cheering fellow Olympic Champions Matt Richards, James Guy, Jack McMillan and Duncan Scott to gold in the final. It is a second World Championships gold and eighth medal at the event...

01 August 2025

Dan Bethell completes ‘Four Nation Slam’ of British & Irish Para Badminton International titles with dominant display in Cardiff

A dominant Dan Bethell won the British & Irish Para Badminton International title for a fourth successive year – and in a fourth different nation. The double Paralympic medallist, who trains at the University of Bath, needed less than 30 minutes to beat India's Umesh Vikram Kumar 21-4 21-7 in the men’s SL3 singles final following an excellent tournament at the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff. Bethell – who had won his previous titles...

29 July 2025

Superb silvers for tennis ace Toby Samuel and rower Josh Knight as Bath-based student-athletes excel at 2025 World University Games

Team Bath Tennis ace Toby Samuel and University of Bath-based rower Josh Knight both won silver medals for Great Britain at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games in Germany. Samuel, coached by Ian MacDonald at the Team Bath Sports Training Village, enjoyed an excellent tournament on the clay courts in Essen and was only denied men’s singles gold by Japan’s Jay Friend who won a gripping final 6-1 4-6 7-5. He also won men’s...

28 July 2025

Backstroke brilliance helps University of Bath swimmers secure 14 medals at 2025 Aquatics GB Next Gen Championships

Sporting scholar Matthew Ward won four gold medals and there was a title double for fellow University of Bath student Niamh Ward at the 2025 Aquatics GB Next Gen Championships in Sheffield. Olympian Jacob Peters also topped the podium as University-based swimmers finished the meet – formerly the British Summer Championships – with 14 medals in total. Matthew Ward, an Integrated Mechanical and Electrical Engineering student supported by a Bill Whiteley Scholarship, dominated the men’s...

27 July 2025

Pentathlon GB’s Emma Whitaker sprints to silver at Senior European Championships in Spain

Emma Whitaker won women’s individual silver for University of Bath-based Pentathlon GB at the 2025 Senior European Championships in Madrid, Spain. The Sports Performance graduate, who was supported by a Santander Sporting Scholarship during her time as a student-athlete at the University, crossed the line just two seconds behind France’s Rebecca Castaudi after an exciting sprint finish. Whitaker had performed consistently throughout a gripping final but saved her best performance to last, her time of...

26 July 2025

Breakthrough bronze at World Champs earns Bath sporting scholar Ranjuo Tomblin his 14th artistic swimming medal of brilliant year

University of Bath sporting scholar Ranjuo Tomblin has capped a stellar season by winning the first World Aquatics Championships medal of his artistic swimming career. The Sports Performance student and partner Izzy Thorpe received a total score of 322.0583 to place third in the Mixed Duet Free final and secure Great Britain’s first-ever World Championships medal in the event. The duo had narrowly missed on a medal in the Mixed Duet Tech on Wednesday and...

25 July 2025

Double celebration as GB sprinter Aleeya Sibbons graduates from University of Bath and wins Athlete of the Month award

GB sprinter Aleeya Sibbons had double cause for celebration as she graduated from the University of Bath and was named as the latest Team Bath Rengen Athlete of the Month. The award recognised the excellent progress made by Sibbons following her successful return from a long-term ankle injury that had dashed her hopes of competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. After 10 months of recovery and rehabilitation, Sibbons won 100m gold in her comeback...

24 July 2025

Bath University Boat Club win Victor Ludorum at British Rowing Club Championships for the first time

Last weekend was one for the history books for the South West GB Performance Development Academy (PDA) as athletes on the Olympic Pathway Programme and their University of Bath crew-mates won a flurry of medals to top the rankings at the British Rowing Club Championships. Amid 162 clubs and over 3,000 competitors, the 13 athletes representing Bath University Boat Club brought home one gold, three silver and two bronze medals across three days of racing....

22 July 2025

Brilliantly-executed race sees Bath sporting scholar Justin Davies win first major medal of international career at European U23 Champs

University of Bath sporting scholar Justin Davies secured the first major individual medal of his international career as he won an excellent 800m silver at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Bergen, Norway. The Team Bath AC runner, coached by Martin Rush, produced a perfectly-timed dip on the line to clock 1:44.97 and pip Italy’s Giovanni Lazzaro to second spot by one-hundredth of a second. “This one really hasn’t sunk in, I don’t think it...

21 July 2025