Foster flies to victory while Wigan BEST and City of Leicester earn double podiums

The GoCardless Swim England National Summer Meet 2024 kicked off with some fantastic long distance racing in Sheffield.

The opening session of the competition saw Kingston upon Hull swimmer Rhianna Foster pace her swim well in the Female 18 Years and over 1500m Freestyle to earn the national title.

It was a strong performance from the 18-year-old, which saw her clinch the gold medal in the heat declared winner event, with a time of 17:40.09.

Completing the podium in that age group, firstly in the silver medal position, was current Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) swimmer, Emily Toms, of Crawley.

She clocked a time of 17:44.92 to finish ahead of Royal Wolverhampton and DiSE alumni swimmer, Sophie Busby, whose time was less than a second behind and secured the bronze medal.

In the 17 years age group, Chesterfield’s Sophie Martin set the fastest time but it was close between Martin and City of Liverpool’s Macy Barker.

Barker swam a faster first half of the race but Martin did enough to seal the win and take home gold.

The 17-year-old finished in a time of 18:03.29, with Barker clocking a time of 18:04.90 for silver. In the bronze medal position was City of Salford’s Cara Tohill (18:17.11).

Leicester and Wigan shine on day one

City of Leicester and Wigan BEST won four of the nine medals on offer in the remaining age groups.

The two clubs watched on as they each had two swimmers step onto the podium in the Female 1500m event.

The 14/15 Years was the only age group where their athletes joined each other in the medal places, as City of Leicester’s Francesca Harrison finished top of the leaderboard.

Harrison, who was part of the 2023-24 Swim England National Age Group Development Programme, set a gold medal-winning time of 18:12.58.

Fellow 2023-24 development programme swimmer, Sophie Baker of Teddington, won silver in a time of 18:13.83.

Wigan BEST’s medal winner in that age group was 14-year-old Jorja Howard who touched the wall in 18:16.29 for bronze.

Earlier in the day, in the 13 Years age group, Howard’s teammate Olivia Knox claimed the club’s first medal of the competition after winning silver.

Knox finished in 18:29.02 as Fareham Nomads swimmer Rose O’Brien (18:24.92) stepped onto the top of the podium and Northumberland and Durham’s Emily Forster (18:29.06) was the bronze medallist.

In the 16 Years age group, it was Darcie Platts who was among the medals for City of Leicester.

She finished in third after a time of 18:19.52, but the gold medal went to Witney’s Hattie Lever following a super swim in 18:09.46. The silver medal was awarded to Philippa Hickman of Nova Centurion.

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

Images: Will Johnston Photography