Freeman, Martin and Swales join hat-trick club on penultimate night

Gabrielle Freeman, Sophie Martin and Thomas Swales joined the hat-trick club on day five of the GoCardless Swim England National Summer Meet 2024.

Freeman and Martin both added Female 200m Butterfly titles to their tally whilst Swales won another gold in the Open/Male event.

We start with Swales – who had already enjoying success at this competition in 2023 – who secured his first gold on day two this year after emerging victorious in the Open/Male 14/15 Years 400m Individual Medley. Then taking to half the distance, the Nova Centurion swimmer was named national champion in the 200m IM for his age group.

And on Friday evening, he didn’t delay in making it a hat-trick of golds at Ponds Forge as he pulled away from the field in the 14/15 Years 200m Butterfly final on day five.

He was alongside eventual commemorative gold medal winner, Zain Salah of Hamilton Aquatics, as the pair pushed each other all the way and were ahead comfortably.

The 15-year-old managed a time of 2:11.96, which was yet another new personal best time, on his way to the top step.

It was close between second and third place for the majority of the race, but Wycombe District’s Rumeth Morawakkorala pushed on to gain a slender lead over Ernest Darkin of Dulwich Dolphins as the pair collected silver and bronze respectively.

Gabrielle Freeman and Sophie Martin win their third golds

Gabrielle Freeman and Sophie Martin also took butterfly success to make it hat-trick of gold medals with Freeman winning the 16 Years race and Martin the 17 years event.

Freeman took four seconds off her lifetime best as she added to her golds in the 100m as well as the 200m Individual Medley.

The Northumberland and Durham Performance swimmer kept on the shoulder of Trafford Metro’s Georgia Cowgill for much of the contest before accelerating for gold in the final 50m’s.

She managed to oust Cowgill in the race to the wall in well-timed race to give her a new personal best of 2:24.58.

Cowgill performed well to win her first medal of the meet in a time of 2:25.05 whilst Wigan Best’s Lucy Vaughan impressed during the final length to claim bronze.

Sophie Martin then took to the pool to add the 17 Years 200m Butterfly to her 400m and 1500m Freestyle titles.

She began to pull away from the field at the halfway mark and never looked back.  The Chesterfield swimmer was 1.39 seconds ahead as they entered the final turn and extended her advantage to almost two seconds as they touched the wall.

It was another new personal best for her with a time of 2:24.59 as Ruby Sheehan and Caitlyn O’Neill set new top times of their own to complete the podium.

Wigan Best’s Sheehan and City of Coventry’s O’Neill both put clear water between them and the rest of the pack as they secured their medal places. They both improved in the closing stages with Sheehan clocking in at 2:26.50 and O’Neill at 2:27.14.

Elsewhere in the Female 200m Butterfly, the top three all broke their lifetime best twice in a day to in the 12/13 Years race, which kicked off the evening session.

Holly Josselin was a class apart though – despite a strong field – as the 12-year-old took control before the 100m mark in an impressive victory.

The Exeter City swimmer finished almost six seconds ahead of Guildford City’s Heidi Corbett to set a time of 2:23.19 for gold.

Corbett swam well for second holding off the rest of the field, to go under the 2:30.00 mark with a 2:29.09. Autumn Claxton was third for the City of Salford in what was her best ever effort as she clocked in at 2:29.73.

Stokesley’s Scarlett Capaldi came from behind to take the 14/15 Years crown.

She had to fight hard for the win with City of Leeds’ Elizabeth Dixon went out hard early on to take a strong lead which she held as they entered the final turn.

However, the punishing stroke began to take it’s toll in the closing stages as Capaldi fought back during the run to the wall.

She overhauled Dixon’s lead with around 30m’s to go and began to pull away as the pair approached the finish.

Capaldi went on to set a time of 2:26.27 with Dixon fighting off the rest of the chasing pack to take silver in 2:27.22.

City of Birmingham’s Chloe Grosvenor and Wirral Metro’s Lauren Berry couldn’t be separated as they went for bronze. They both set identical times of 2:27.48 after four lengths to take away a deserved bronze medal each.

Sophie Murray of Harrogate made it a clean sweep of personal bests for gold medal swimmers in the Female 200m Butterfly after she knocked two seconds off her time.

She won gold in 2:20.48 after motoring home in the last 50m to go from fourth to first.

Kiera Noon held the lead for the majority but in the end had to settle for silver despite the 24-year-old setting a seasonal best effort.

Isabelle Sherring also set her season’s best time for bronze as the City of Sheffield swimmer completed the four lengths in 2:21.57, just 0.45 off Noon’s time.

Callinan collects gold

The centre lanes battled it out for the national crown in the Open/Male 12/13 Years 200m Butterfly.

All the action came down the final 50 metres as Maidenhead’s Zachary Callinan and Kingston upon Hull’s George Harrison looked to hunt down the race leader, Ben Stephenson of Garston.

Stephenson made his rivals work hard and although he was eventually edged out by Callinan and Harrison, he held on to third place to ensure a medal went his way.

The gold medal-winning time from Callinan was 2:23.18, followed by a 2:23.53 from Harrison after timing their races to perfection.

In the 16 Years final, Hastings swimmer Harley Williams started strongly and didn’t let up as he led the race to the national title from start to finish.

He finished in a time of 2:11.62, with City of Coventry’s Elliot Lawton (2:13.61) the next swimmer to reach the finish after a fantastic swim from lane zero.

In third place and winning a bronze medal was Swim Bournemouth’s Elliott Dunnett (2:13.94) and a commemorative gold was awarded to Hamilton Aquatics swimmer Kanish Chakraborty.

There was another dominant performance in the 17 Years final as Rocco Giustiniani lowered his personal best by almost three seconds on his way to victory.

The Anaconda swimmer sealed the win in 2:09.53 to take home gold and after a superb final 50 metres, City of Cambridge’s Ryan Wall touched home in 2:11.24 for silver. In third, with a time of 2:11.57, was Leicester Sharks’ Alberto Rescigno.

Matthew Aldred went out fast and led at halfway in the 18 Years final, but Sean McCann of Loughborough University looked really strong in the second half of the race.

McCann took the lead at the 150m mark and began to pull clear of the field as he powered down the home straight.

He clocked in at 2:04.37 for a new personal best, with Sevenoaks swimmer Albert Branch (2:06.27) taking silver and Maxwell Adams (2:06.97) of Wycombe District earning bronze – meaning Aldred just missed out on a medal spot but produced a brilliant swim nonetheless.

Hudson takes narrow win

There was some incredible racing in the multi-classification events, with the Open/Male MC 200m Freestyle decided by just one tenth of a second.

S14 swimmers Hayden Hudson and Lucas Lee went head-to-head and there was just a fingertip between the mat the finish.

It was the fingertips of Chesterfield’s Hudson that touched the wall first as his time stood at 2:20.32, with 513 points.

Lee, finishing on 2:20.42, racked up 512 points for silver in what was a thrilling showdown.

Similarly to the Open/Male race, all four swimmers in the Female Multi-Classification 200m Freestyle event were in the S14 classification – meaning the fastest swimmer would take the gold yet again.

Finishing first was Stockport Metro’s Tylia Glynn in a new personal best time of 2:29.75, which earned a total of 563 British Para-Swimming points.

In second place and taking the silver at 14-years-old was City of Manchester’s Amy Choularton. She finished in 2:33.79 for 520 points.

The battle for bronze was tight, but Devonport’s Abigail Daly beat Ramsbottom swimmer Chiara Fellone by a narrow margin to finish third in 2:42.44 and 441 points.

S9 swimmer Evie Lambert representing the Borough of Kirklees scored a solid 570 British Para-Swimming points in the Female Multi-Classification 100m Butterfly to claim the gold medal.

A fellow S9 swimmer in Colchester’s Connie Ratley wasn’t far behind with a total of 564 points for silver and adding a bronze medal to her gold was Stockport Metro’s Glynn with 527 points.

In the Open/Male MC 100m Butterfly, Gloucester’s Jacob Wood was first to the wall and first in the points. The S9 swimmer earned a total of 570 points from out in lane nine.

In second place, with 558 points, was Oswestry’s Akaash Das (S8) and the bronze went to Sherwood’s S10 swimmer, Kai Gelsthorpe, with 445 points.

Isabelle Brock makes it a breaststroke double

Isabelle Brock made it a breaststroke double after she claimed the 15 Years Female 50m crown.

The Clevedon swimmer added to her 100m title, pulling half a body length clear of the rest of the field as she powered down the centre lane for gold.

She did it in a new lifetime best of 34.19, finishing 0.64 ahead of a tie for silver between Harriet Oldfield and Abbie Nelson.

Nothing could split the pair in the fast-paced contest as the duo both touched the wall in 34.83 as they were the only other swimmers to under the 35-second-mark.

Ella Greatbatch upgraded from silver to gold by taking the 16 years title.

The Bishop Stortford swimmer, narrowly missed out on the 100m gold but made up for it in the 50m as she dashed to the wall in a time of 33.89.

Greatbatch was always amongst the leaders in a race where the top four couldn’t be split until the closing metres.

She pulled clear with an impressive stroke rate to take the crown to set the exact same time as she managed in the heats, showing her consistency throughout the competition.

Second place went to City of Salford’s Alissa Boslem who along with Scarlett Davie tried to pressure Greatbatch from the two lanes either side.

The Salford swimmer kept on strong in the finish to set a 32.28 with 200 and 100m gold medallist Davie continuing her impressive meet by grabbing bronze.

Basildon Pheonix were back on the top of the podium after Mia Lowe powered through in the final 50m’s to win 17 years gold.

It looked to be a battle between Pheobe Howard and Ellen Duffield – who were going well beside her – but it was Lowe that took the gold from lane four.

The win added to her silver in the 100m event on Tuesday as she finished 0.18 seconds ahead of Norwich Swan’s Howard. Duffield was third, clocking in at 33.66, narrowly missing out on Howard’s time.

The 18 Years and Over race provided what will likely be the closest race of the entire week.

Just eight hundredths of a second split the top three where Cora Lanham was left celebrating. She finished only a hundredth ahead of Abingdon Vale’s Ellen Bagley who was unlucky not to add to her 100m gold.

It was a strong swim from the entire field but the trio of Lanham, Bagley and Caitlin Hartley stood out.

The race between them was tight throughout but it was Lanham timed her finish to perfect to take the title for Street and District.

Hartley had to settle for bronze despite a strong swim with a time of 33.30 compared to Lanham’s 33.33.

Nicholas lands another gold

Nicholas Land collected his third medal of the competition, and his second gold, after winning the Open/Male 16 Years 50m Breaststroke final.

It was tight right the way across the field as the swimmers approached the halfway point, but Land had the edge as he reached out for the win.

The Newcastle swimmer was successful across double the distance earlier in the week – taking gold in the 100m Breaststroke.

He followed that up with a bronze medal in his 200m IM final, before going back to the top in a time of 30.42.

Swindon Dolphins’ Lucas Carter (30.69) and Owen Perry (30.93) of Redditch completed the podium.
The closest finish of the Open/Male 50m Breaststroke finals came in the 18 Years and over age group, with just 0.03 separating the top three.

It looked as though East Leeds’ Richard Ayre had managed to touch home first, but it was Nottingham Leander’s Thomas Page who snatched the win by 0.02.

Page clocked in at 29.07 and Ayre in 29.09 for silver – and just 0.01 behind the East Leeds athlete was Hackney’s Ley Ito to take bronze in 29.10.

Lucas Tavares qualified fastest for the 15 Years 50m Breaststroke and didn’t disappoint when the final came around. Ensuring that the gold medal headed back to Sandwell, Tavares finished in a time of 31.36.

The silver medal went to Watford’s Chun Ho Chan (31.69) and finishing the race strongly was Basingstoke’s Piaras Donnelly (31.76) who came through to take bronze.

Stanley Partridge of Plymouth Leander set a new personal best from out in lane eight to take gold in the 17 Years final.

He backed up his victory in the 100m Breaststroke final with a double as he charged to the wall in a time of 30.70.

Following closely behind was Severnside’s Noah De N’Yeurt (30.74) for silver and the bronze medal went to Radford’s James Berry in 30.86.

Jasmine Hall takes three seconds off lifetime best

Jasmine Hall knocked three seconds off her lifetime best as she won gold in the Female 14/15 Years 200m Backstroke final.

She set a time of 2:24.78 to win her second medal of the meet after taking silver in the 1500m Freestyle on the opening day.

The Basildon Pheonix swimmer led from just after the 100m mark, impressing in the third 50m’s to put herself in a strong position for the gold.

Those around her began to claw back that gap in the closing metres but Hall was already too far ahead as Elizabeth Wakefield and Alice Forrest battled it out for silver.

It was Bicester’s Wakefield that came out the victor between the two by just a hundredth of a second after clocking in at 2:26.18.

Forrest added another bronze to her collection, adding to a medal of the same colour that she won as part of Northumberland and Durham’s 14-16 Years relay team at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships.

Maya Orfanadis’ first medal of the week was a gold one after taking two seconds off the rest of the field in the 12/13 Years 200m Backstroke.

She led the race from start to finish as the 12-year-old set a new personal best of 2:23.95, taking five seconds off her former top time.

It was an incredible time which those behind could do nothing about despite their impressive efforts.

Abby Coventry of Northumberland and Durham pulled clear of the rest in the closing 50m’s to secure a well-earned silver medal in 2:25.94. And City of Leeds also got back on the medal board with bronze courtesy of Elkie Foster.

Nine of the ten swimmers had to put in lifetime bests to make the 16 Years final but the swimmer that didn’t was one of those that got on the podium.

That was Raya Harrand of York City Baths, who saved her best for the evening sessions as she shaved three seconds off her time from last year’s Yorkshire Championships to win bronze.

She led the majority of the race before Chelsea and Westminster’s Veronica Venuti turned well to go in front as they entered the final length.

Veunuti was a body length and looked favourite for gold before Poole’s Jessica Huggins appeared on the shoulder of Harrand to win the race to the wall.

Timing the finish expertly, Huggins set a 2:23.58 to finish 0.12 ahead of Venuti who held off a resurgent Harrand for silver by just a hundredth of a second.

Hannah Murphy powered towards the wall though on the final length to surge to the lead and take the gold in the 17 Years final.

The RTW Monson swimmer was seeded fastest for the final and didn’t disappoint as she came from behind to lead by more than two seconds at the finish.

She rushed past Wigan Best’s Lydia Swindell who impressed from lane eight to lead for the opening three-quarters of the race. Swindell was second in the end though with a time of 2:23.21 whilst the winning time was 2:20.99.

It was a new lifetime best for second place Emily Maxwell, who finishing strongly to win bronze for Northumberland and Durham.

Connie Davies added gold to her two bronze medals to complete the female 200m backstroke events.

The Deben swimmer finished half a second ahead of Wycombe District’s Yalindi Rupesinghe in a time of 2:21.80.

She led in the first 50m’s before Rupesinghe took over until the closing stages where Deben fought back to finish ahead.

It added to her bronzes in both the 50m breaststroke and 50m backstroke so far this week, proving that she’s strong across a range of distances and events.

Rupesinghe came into the final as the only swimmer to set lifetime best in heats and improved on that by a further 2.62 seconds to win silver.

Martha Sell from City of Bristol won the battle behind to take the final medal position, finishing around a second off Rupesinghe’s time.

Northumberland and Durham dominate

Northumberland and Durham Performance athletes dominated the top step of the podium in the Open/Male 100m Backstroke.

Three of the five golds on offer went the way of the club from the North East as Archie McGuire, Daniel Payton and William Ellis all clinched national titles in their respective age groups.

It was McGuire who started the success for his club. He beat Mount Kelly’s Joseph Bale to the touch by 0.80 in the 13 Years final.

It was also another personal best for the 13-year-old as well as another gold medal – he managed a time of 1:04.71.

Bale’s swim resulted in a super silver in a time of 1:04.79 and Altrincham’s Thomas Rickels was the only other swimmer to go under 1:05.00 with his 1:04.97 to earn bronze.

Payton made it a double delight as he came out on top in the 14/15 Years final. His gold medal-winning time was 1:00.86.

Newcastle were back amongst the medals courtesy of Matthew Scott’s silver in 1:01.19 and Felixstowe’s Thomas Dean (1:01.38) was awarded bronze.

Interrupting the Northumberland and Durham medal spree Crawley’s Ben Uff and Repton’s Findlay Cordle in the 16 and 17 Years finals.

Uff was crowned national champion in the 16 Years age group and collected his first gold of the competition thanks to a blistering swim which saw him record a 58.82 finish.

Also going under a minute was Thurrock’s Joshua Shepherd (59.72) for the silver medal. There were two bronze medals awarded, the first a commemorative and was won by Kanish Chakraborty of Hamilton Aquatics, and the second was the national bronze which went to Eamon Djeridi of Royal Wolverhampton.

Cordle produced a stunning final sprint in the 17 Years final to make up the gap between himself and the race leader, Thomas Long of Gravesend.

It was a strong performance from Long, who was rewarded with a silver in 1:00.34, but Cordle left it late to snatch gold in 1:00.22. Bronze was to Team Ipswich swimmer Ashton Redhead (1:00.47).

But the final Open/Male race of the day saw Northumberland and Durham back in pole position as William Ellis cruised home in the 18 Years and over final.

The 21-year-old looked in control throughout. A time of 56.63 saw him stand on the podium alongside Royal Wolverhampton’s Andrew Jones (57.32) in silver and Thanet Swim’s Oliver Pope (57.69) in bronze.

Night concludes with string of freestyle lifetime bests

The evening ended with the Female 100m Freestyle events which provided a thrilling finale on the penultimate night at Ponds Forge.

Each of the races saw a number of lifetime bests with a number of swimmers going under a minute for the first time.

One of those was Emilia Spencer who flew home to open up the events in the 12/13 years final. Spencer came home in 59.94 as the City of Birmingham swimmer finished 0.15 ahead of Amy Langer.

Langer – who was a second clear of anyone in the heats – for the opening 75m’s before Spencer came through to finish narrowly ahead. Julia Elvidge of RTW Monson was third, just off the leading pair clocking in at 1:00.87.

The top three were split by just 0.16 as the three centre lanes all came into the wall together in the 14/15 Years final.

It was Jasmine Carter who came on top through from lane five, adding to her 50m gold with the 100m crown.

After going under a minute for the first time in the heats, Carter almost broke the 59-second barrier in the final, setting a 59.19 to top the timing sheets.

She was challenged stroke for stroke by Poppy Worthington (Mount Kelly) and Emily Hughes (Millfield) but used her 50m speed to take home yet another gold medal.

Worthington won silver in 59.24 with Hughes in third setting a 59.35.

Peiqi Wu and Charlotte Gower also went under a minute for the first time in their career at the Summer Meet as they finished in fourth and fifth respectively.

Emma Hagberg and Emma Price were side by side approaching the finish but Beth Barrett flew home from lane three to claim the 16 years gold.

Like Carter, Barrett only broke the one-minute mark in the heats but now she went under 59 seconds with an incredible two lengths where she finished in 58.74.

She timed her race perfectly, with Hagberg right with her at the line as she touched just a tenth of a second behind the Wrekin swimmer.

Price ended up in third spot finishing in 59 seconds in a race where each of the top three set their new lifetime bests.

City of Liverpool’s Lucy Parsons continued her medal streak with her second gold at this year’s National Summer Meet.

After winning the 50m freestyle 17 years event, she added the 100m gold after concluding her race in 58.38.

As well as the golds this week, she also won the British title for the 1500m’s as well as bronze in both the 400m and 800m events throughout her two weeks in Sheffield.

She had to fight hard for the win, making the last 25m’s count after a strong starting Isobel Mather led from lane nine at halfway.

The City of Cambridge swimmer couldn’t stick with Parsons in the second 50 though and ended up narrowly missing out on the medals in fourth despite a strong swim.

Wycombe District’s Masie Dickinson and Danielle Song (City of Milton Keynes) were strong in the finish though, setting a 58.58 and 58.74 respectively to round out the medal positions.

Alexa Mann won the final gold of the evening at Ponds Forge as the Chelmsford swimmer touched just ahead of Chelsea and Westminster’s Tallulah Paisley.

It was a close race throughout with 50m freestyle gold medallist, Georgie Rennals, showing her speed to lead at halfway.

She couldn’t quite hold onto a medal place as the top three all went under 59 seconds with Mann motoring home to see off Paisley.

The 20-year-old Paisley came through strong to start the second length but Mann kept the most in reserve to take the title in a time of 58.60.

Alicia Massie was consistent throughout, clocking in just under 59 seconds with a time of 58.92 for bronze.

For all the results from the GoCardless Swim England National Summer Meet 2024, click here.

Images: Will Johnston Photography