Swansea University swimmers swam well above expectations last weekend at the British Universities and Colleges Sport Long Course championships in Sheffield, coming away with lifetime bests, season bests and medal winning performances across the board.
After an impressive top 3 finish at the short course equivalent in November it was always going to be difficult to match that result with so many of the team having one eye on the bigger picture. No less than 10 of the 20 swimmers have their sights set on London’s Aquatic Centre and the 2012 Olympic trials which are now less than three weeks away.
Notable swims came straight off the bat on the Friday evening with Chris Suggitt in the mens 1500m freestyle finishing just shy of his rested best time and picking up a silver medal along the way.
Saturday saw even more impressive swims and medals from Libby Mitchell in the 100 Butterfly (Silver), Emma Smithhurst in the 400 medley (Silver), Chris Suggitt in the mens 400 medley (Bronze), Adam Mallett in the mens 100 butterfly (Bronze) and this was capped off by the girls 4×100 free team who took bronze.
Sunday saw some even more outstanding swims three weeks out from Olympic Trials. Medals came Swansea’s way through Chris Suggitt in the 200 IM (bronze), Libby Mitchell and Alys Thomas (Silver and Bronze) in the 200m butterfly, with both 4×100 freestyle teams picking up the final 2 medals for Swansea Collection.
Overall just 9 points separated Swansea from 2nd placed Bath University. All in all an outstanding weekends work by the whole team. The team who were missing 2 GB internationals stood up and made it count when it mattered.
Results
1st Loughborough 365
2nd Bath 226
3rd Swansea 217
4th Edinburgh 199
5th Stirling 178
Other Welsh Universities
14th Cardiff. 38
19th UWIC. 23
