Best Grand Prix result keeps Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher on course for Rio 2016

Team Bath Judo’s Ben Fletcher produced his best-ever Grand Prix result in Azerbaijan on Sunday to maintain his push for a Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification place. World number ten Jose Armenteros was among the judoka Fletcher overcame on his way to a seventh-placed finish in the men’s -100kg weight category in Baku. Hungary’s Miklos Cirjenics was runner-up, moving him into the automatic qualification places for Rio, but Fletcher still holds one of two continental...

09 May 2016

Sparkling start at Diamond League as hurdler Eilidh Doyle sets world-fastest time

University of Bath-based athlete Eilidh Doyle got the Rio 2016 Olympic season off to a flying start as she set the fastest women’s 400m hurdles time of the year so far. Doyle, nee Child, clocked 54.53 to finish ahead of Bahrain's Kemi Adekoya and reigning Commonwealth champion Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica at the first Diamond League meeting of the season in Doha. It was a fastest-ever season opener for European champion Doyle, who is coached by...

07 May 2016

Pentathletes Jamie Cooke and Freyja Prentice seek Rio 2016 boost at World Cup Final

Pentathlon GB’s Jamie Cooke is hoping it will be déjà vu all over again when he goes looking for more Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification points at this weekend's World Cup Final in the United States. Cooke enjoyed a timely confidence boost when he had ‘one of those perfect pentathlon days’ while winning World Cup gold in Kecskemét, Hungary earlier this month. It was his second success in Kecskemét, with his other World Cup victory coming...

05 May 2016

Debutants among the medals as rowers enjoy promising BUCS Regatta

University of Bath Boat Club rowers won three medals and narrowly missed out on three more when they competed in the 2016 BUCS Regatta at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham. Laura Macro won gold in the lightweight women’s intermediate single scull, while fellow regatta debutant Henry Young was first home in the beginner men’s single. Mechanical Engineering student Tom Mapp (pictured) won bronze in the intermediate men’s single and finished fourth in the...

04 May 2016

Another World Cup medal moves wheelchair fencer Piers Gilliver closer to Rio 2016

University of Bath-based wheelchair fencer Piers Gilliver won his fifth World Cup medal of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualifying campaign after another impressive display in Canada. Epee bronze in Laval maintained the 21-year-old’s ranking as number one in the world and all but wrapped up qualification for Rio with just two tournaments – the European and American Championships – to go. Gilliver, who went into his latest competition as the top seed, won all...

04 May 2016

Team Bath Netball determined to end positive Superleague season on a winning note

Team Bath Netball are determined to finish a positive Vitality Netball Superleague season on an appropriately high note when they face Hertfordshire Mavericks in the third-place play-off. Director of Netball Jess Thirlby admitted the players and staff were “hurting to put it mildly” after last weekend’s 53-46 semi-final defeat at Manchester Thunder ended their dream of a sixth Superleague title. But she has urged the Blue and Gold to lift themselves and ensure they go...

03 May 2016

Six of the best for University of Bath athletes at BUCS Outdoor Championships

Students at the University of Bath won ten medals – six of them gold – during a fantastic weekend at the BUCS [British Universities & Colleges Sport] Outdoor Athletics Championships. There was double delight in the 400m as Cameron Chalmers and Olivia Caesar won the men’s and women’s titles respectively. Chalmers also helped the University to victory in the men’s 4x400m relay alongside Jacob Paul and Jack Houghton, who were both on the podium in...

03 May 2016

Slow start proves costly as battling Team Bath Netball slip to Superleague semi-final defeat

Team Bath Netball were once again left to rue a slow start against Manchester Thunder as they missed out on a place in the Vitality Netball Superleague Grand Final despite a valiant fightback. The Blue and Gold found themselves trailing 17-6 at the end of a disappointing first quarter of Saturday’s semi-final in Manchester. And while they went to more than match their hosts for the remaining 45 minutes, Thunder – who were beaten just...

30 April 2016

Slider David Swift retires from skeleton after ten years on the ice

University of Bath-based GB Skeleton slider David Swift has announced his retirement from the sport after almost a decade representing his country on the international stage. The 31-year-old from Devon joined the GB programme in 2006 and has featured in more than 80 senior races, including two World Championships. A winner of the overall Intercontinental Cup (ICC) competition in 2015, the former sprinter was consistently one of the fastest starters in the world and was...

28 April 2016

VIDEO: Hundreds roar fundraising S&C coach to new weightlifting world record in Team Bath Gym

Strength & conditioning coach Luke Vella set an unofficial new world weightlifting record in front of a big crowd at the University of Bath Sports Training Village on Wednesday. In the process he has raised thousands of pounds for Bristol Children’s Hospital, who saved the life of his friend and fellow Team Bath coach Bob Smith’s baby daughter. More than 300 people – including the judo, rugby and tennis players that Vella trains at the...

28 April 2016