Jessica Huggins completes clean sweep of backstroke titles on final day in Sheffield

Poole swimmer Jessica Huggins completed a clean sweep of backstroke titles as she claimed her third gold medal on the final day of the GoCardless Swim England National Summer Meet 2024.

After already winning the 50m and 200m Backstroke events in the 16 Years age group earlier in the competition, Huggins sealed her backstroke dominance with a hat-trick of golds after adding the 100m title.

She set a time of 1:06.38 as she took her place on top on the podium yet again.

Newmarket’s Adrija Raudonyte came through well in lane six for silver and Chelmsford’s Francesca Howell took bronze.

In the remaining Female 100m Backstroke finals, RTW Monson’s Julia Elvidge was the favourite coming into the Female 13 Years 100m Backstroke final but was third as the swimmers approached the final part of the race.

However, the youngster dialled it up down the final 15 metres to sail through and win the gold medal in a new lifetime best of 1:07.19.

The silver medal was won by City of Birmingham’s Ellie Hull (1:08.08) and Camden Swiss swimmer Eleanor Porter (1:08.15) the bronze medallist.

Elizabeth Curphey’s first medal of the week was a gold one after a great last 50 metres in the 14/15 Years final.

The swimmer from the Isle of Man produced a personal best time of 1:07.26 on route to the national title.

The silver medal winner, Chorley Marlins’ Olivia Edgar, and the bronze medal winner, Tiverton’s Lotte Declerck, were the only other athletes to go under 1:08 in that final.

Northumberland and Durham Performance swimmer Emily Maxwell was the bronze medallist in the 200m Backstroke, but was clinical in half the distance.

Maxwell finished strongly in the 17 Years final to take her place on top of the podium in 1:06.11.

Norwich Swan’s Charlotte Smith led at the halfway point and was able to remain in the medal places as she finished in second. Taking third was City of Norwich swimmer Grace Greenhalf.

The last race of this year’s competition saw Isobel Buist follow up on her lifetime best in qualifying to win her first gold medal of the competition.

The Rushmoor Royals athlete took the 18 Years and over crown in a time of 1:05.31 from lane four.

Deben’s Connie Davies (1:05.54) and City of Peterborough’s Hannah Willis (1:05.56) the bronze.

Militis paces race perfectly

Jack Militis of Tigers Jersey swam a perfectly paced race to take gold in the Open/Male 12/13 Years 200m Backstroke final.

He took just over two seconds off his personal best as he touched the wall in 2:18.79. Meanwhile, Mount Kelly’s Joseph Bale secured his second silver in as many days.

After finishing second in the 100m Backstroke on day five, Bale showed consistency to take another silver medal spot across double the distance.

He finished in a time of 2:20.76 and City of Sheffield’s Harry Osborne was awarded the bronze medal in a time of 2:21.08.

Newcastle’s Matthew Scott set a new lifetime best time on his way to gold in the 14/15 Years final.

Scott upgraded his silver in the 100m event to a gold across 200 metres as he pulled away from his rivals to finish in 2:12.72 – a new best time.

Biddulph’s Oscar Devaal claimed the silver medal in comfortable fashion in his own new personal best time (2:15.78) while New Hall’s Danylo Krachenko (2:16.67) won bronze from out in lane nine.

A commemorative bronze medal was presented to Cameron Haddow of Hamilton Aquatics.

Leander’s Joe Jennings was the fastest in the 16 Years final – lowering his personal best he set in the heats by a further three seconds.

He claimed gold in 2:10.31 as Kanish Chakraborty of Hamilton Aquatics added another commemorative medal to his collection – this time a silver.

City of Peterborough’s Orlando Dearing was the national silver medallist in 2:12.07 and was followed by Basildon Phoenix swimmer William East (2:13.32) for bronze.

It was neck and neck between lanes three and four in the 17 Years final as the pair both stretched for the wall.

The gold went the way of the Isle of Man swimmer, Kieran Watterson, by just 0.27 as he clocked in at 2:11.16 compared to the silver medal-winning time of 2:11.43 from Bramcote’s Laurel Roberts-Burrell. Bronze went to Tigers Jersey’s Daniel Papworth (2:11.69).

Lewis Maxwell set a similar pace to his heats swim as he went on to be crowned national champion in the 18 Years and over event.

The Northumberland and Durham swimmer got his hands on another gold medal after already taking the 100m Butterfly title on day three.

Maxwell set a time of 2:05.62 for gold and Benjamin Cross, swimming at his home pool, was next to finish in 2:07.12.

Cross and Royal Wolverhampton’s Andrew Jones raced hard, but it was the City of Sheffield swimmer who took second place by one tenth of a second. Jones’ time was equal to his lifetime best as he earned bronze.

Grant gets gold

Ellie Grant added another gold to the Tigers Jersey tally with a fabulous effort in the Female 12/13 Years 400m Individual Medley final.

It was Grant’s breaststroke that made all the difference and saw her open up a strong lead before racing away to victory. She touched home in a new personal best time of 5:13.81.

There wasn’t much to separate Guildford’s Heidi Corbett (5:15.38) and City of Leeds’ Isabelle Hall (5:15.47) as the pair took silver and bronze respectively.

There was a huge personal best from Ella Smith in the 14/15 Years – beating her previous best by around six seconds on route to the title.

Smith was in third with just 100 metres to go but a speedy freestyle leg saw her close the gap in no time to secure her first gold of the competition with a time of 5:08.96.

A strong swim from City of Leicester’s Francesca Harrison (5:09.85) saw her stay amongst the medals and take home silver. Exeter City’s Erin Perman (5:10.36) completed the podium in bronze.

Rushmoor Royals’ Maisie Brown was almost five seconds ahead of the remainder of the field as she stormed to gold in the 16 Years final.

Brown was in fifth place before the breaststroke leg of the race and had moved into the lead after those 100 metres. She went on to take the win in 5:05.28.

Teddington’s Evie Young (5:10.23) snatched the silver at the touch, meaning City of Liverpool’s Kerry Hennie (5:10.25) took bronze.

Similarly to the age group before her, Chesterfield’s Sophie Martin produced a dominant performance in the 17 Years final to win by exactly six seconds.

It’s been a fantastic week for the 17-year-old, who celebrated her birthday last week, and has now taken four gold medals at this year’s National Summer Meet.

This one has to be one of the most impressive, as the freestyle specialist powered to the finish for her fifth medal in a new best time of 5:07.88.

Both silver and bronze medal winners, Isobel Munnoch and Lea Western, also set new personal bests to earn podium places.

In the 18 Years and over final, Madison Johnson won her second individual medley medal of the competition.

Johnson added the 400m IM to her 200m IM victory earlier in the competition after clocking in at 5:07.14.

But both Eve Horton of Wigan BEST and Black Lion’s Mia Colyer pushed Johnson all the way, with all three swimmer battling till the end.

Horton finished narrowly ahead of Colyer to see them take silver and bronze respectively.

Hardy-Bishop wins gold

Rebecca Hardy-Bishop of Jersey was the gold medal winner in the Female Multi-Classification 100m Backstroke event.

The S12 swimmer racked up a points total of 584 points following a time of 1:21.87 from lane three.

Hardy-Bishop was joined on the podium by Borough of Kirklees swimmer Stephanie Booth who scored 556 points for silver and Ramsbottom’s Chiara Fellone with 553 points for bronze.

Earlier in the day, Jacob Wood added to his 100m Butterfly title with gold in the Open/Male Multi-Classification 100m Backstroke.

The S9 swimmer of Gloucester clocked in at 1:11.15 to earn a solid score of 591 points and the only one to break the 500 points barrier.

Repton’s Owen Johnson (S10) scored 498 points for the silver medal and Chesterfield’s Hayden Hudson (S14), who won the MC 200m Freestyle on day five, took bronze in this event with 466 points.

The gold medal in the Open/Male MC 50m Butterfly event went to Barnstaple’s Theo Reynolds with 406 points and silver was awarded to Borough of Kirklees swimmer Isaac Johnstone on 395 points.

In the Female event, Maxwell’s Amanda Redhead was the 50m Butterfly gold medallist. She earned 373 points and Richmond Dale’s Maisie Catt collected silver with 332 points.

Close finishes and joint medals

The Open/Male 50m Butterfly finals saw some very close results – two of which lead to joint medals being awarded.

First up in the 50m events was Braintree’s Joshua Parker who sealed the national title in the 15 Years final in 26.16.

New Hall’s Danylo Kravchenko was the next to reach the wall in 26.52 and City of Coventry’s Theoharis Bramwell (26.73) took bronze.

Hamilton Aquatics swimmer Zain Salah claimed his fifth commemorative gold medal.

The joint medals came in consecutive races. The first were awarded to Croydon’s Josh Dolling and Leander’s Archie Osborne as both finished in 26.08 to earn a silver medal apiece.

But leading the pack in the 16 Years final was City of Lincoln’s Ewan Cox in a gold medal-winning time of 26.06.

The 17 Years final then saw another Leander swimmer in Alexander Lawrie share silver with Bromley’s Sebastian Williams after the pair touched the wall in 25.84.

Redditch’s Riley Perry was the gold medallist in that one with a new personal best of 25.43.

Loughborough University’s Daniel Gencas finished on top in the 18 Years and over final.

He went under 25 seconds for the first time with a new best of 24.85 for gold. Team Luton’s Matthew Wright went 25.11 for silver and rounding off the podium for his second bronze medal of the session was Royal Wolverhampton’s Andrew Jones in 25.24.

Double for Derby thanks to Miley Aram

Derby Excel’s Miley Aram was all smiles after winning the Female 15 Years 50m Butterfly final to make it double gold.

Aram already took the 100m Butterfly title earlier in the week and she added the 50m title to her collection in a time of 28.86.

Barnet Copthall swimmer Malaika Onobrauche sealed silver in 29.23, followed by Chelsea and Westminster’s Eva Dramitinos (29.35) in third.

Vanesa Cimermanova went under 29 seconds for the first time ever – and what a time to do it as she clinched the gold medal in the 16 Years final.

The City of Peterborough athlete recorded a time of 28.83 from lane six after a fantastic swim.

Just 0.02 behind Cimermanova was Stockport Metro’s Aleksandra Moskwa who finished in the silver medal position and a further 0.01 behind was City of Bradford’s Jasmine Shay who won bronze.

The 17 Years final saw Bolton Metro’s Lisa Barzaghi wrap up her first medal of the meet as she battled it out with Atlantis swimmer Isabella Sawyer.

Barzaghi finished in 28.95 to take home the gold medal and it was silver for Sawyer in 29.01. City of Cambridge’s Isobel Mather (29.08) was third to the wall.

After setting a season’s best time in the heats, Beth Hall lowered it further on her way to being crowned the 18 Years and over national champion.

The Mount Kelly swimmer finished 0.08 ahead of City of Bristol’s Lara Turner who was awarded the silver medal. Finishing in third for bronze was Birmingham University’s Larissa Dean (28.47).

Scott seals medal double

Newcastle’s Matthew Scott was at the double in the final session of the National Summer Meet.

He made it two gold medals in the same session after clinching victory in both the 200m Backstroke and the 200m Freestyle in the 14/15 Years age group.

His time in the freestyle event stood at 2:00.31 and Norwich Swan’s Oscar Hunter wasn’t far behind as he took silver in 2:00.58.

Corby’s Ethan Soppett-Moss was the national bronze medallist and two commemorative medals were awarded to two Hamilton Aquatics athletes.

A sixth commemorative gold was won by Zain Salah and Cameron Haddow was presented with a commemorative bronze medal.

Worthing’s Myles Paul led from the off and never looked like letting it slip as he shaved more than eight seconds off his original lifetime best in the 12/13 Years final.

He beat his previous best by seven seconds in the heats and took a further second off it in the final as he added gold to his bronze from the 100m Freestyle on day four.

Archie McGuire of Northumberland and Durham Performance continued his good form at this competition with another medal after finishing in silver with a time of 2:05.31.

In the bronze medal position was Bromley’s Hayden Sanders – another swimmer who has enjoyed plenty of success in Sheffield.

Eamonn Djeridi started well in the 16 Years final and maintained his rhythm to stay ahead of the field and add a gold to his silver in the 50m Backstroke.

The Royal Wolverhampton swimmer was under the two minute mark with a time of 1:57.63 in what was a close contest between the top three.

Next to finish was Teddington’s Lucas Galant Draysey in 1:57.89 for silver and City of Liverpool’s George Daintith (1:57.95) was presented with bronze.

In the 17 Years final, Mount Kelly’s Philip Cinpoes swam an incredible final 50m to finish in top spot.

He started out the competition with gold on the opening day in the 1500m Freestyle and he closed it out with another in the 200m Freestyle.

Overtaking Tigers Jersey swimmer Matthew Deffains in the final few metres of the race, Cinpoes posted a 1:56.18 to win.

It was still a superb performance from Deffains who still stood on the second step of the podium after finishing in 1:56.41. Clevedon’s Jamie Steadman also got himself a medal with a 1:57.26 for bronze.

Maxwell Adams was first to the turn in the 18 Years and over final and didn’t lose that position for the entirety of his race.

The Wycombe District swimmer already had bronze medals in the 400m Freestyle and 22m Butterfly events, but was on the hunt for gold this time around.

Adams put in a new personal best time of 1:51.02 to ensure he would take home gold. Completing the podium was Northumberland and Durham Performance’s Luke McGee and Loughborough University’s Sean McCann in silver and bronze respectively.

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

Images: Will Johnston Photography