King's Worcester

27 August

King’s Swimmers End their Season on a High

King’s swimmers have ended their season on a high with some superb results in their National competitions.

The British National Championships were held in Glasgow this year. To reach this prestigious competition the swimmers must rank in the top twenty-four in the country, in their age group. Two King’s pupils, Gabriella Barry and Hannah Woodcock accomplished this and performed incredibly well.

Gabriella qualified in the 50m Butterfly, her strongest event in which she currently holds the Junior short course record for. Gabriella swam spot on her personal best and achieved a credible thirteenth place. Hannah Woodcock, also a Junior County record holder, qualified in the 50m and the 100m Freestyle. In her strongest event, the 50m Freestyle, Hannah cruised through into the National final with a long course personal best of 27.12 seconds. Later that evening, she swam a stunning race and placed fifth in a blistering 26.88 seconds, smashing the current Junior long course record.

Josie Armstrong swam her first British Nationals as part of a relay team for her home club, Worcester. Incredibly, the girls swam a whole sixteen seconds faster than their entry qualifying time, smashing the Open County record.

In the Welsh Nationals, Henry Halford had a fantastic championships swimming personal bests left, right and centre. He produced a stunning swim in his 50m Breaststroke, in particular, making his first National final.

At the English Summer Championships, held in Sheffield, Alex Barry swam a strong heat to finish her 200m Backstroke in 2.30.84 seconds. Sister, Gabriella Barry, swam the 100m Butterfly, putting in a strong heat swim to qualify for the final. Hannah Woodcock was simply on fire at these championships. She qualified in the 50m Breaststroke and the 50m Backstroke. She swam strong heats to qualify comfortably in the finals, both in fourth place. In her finals the outside lanes suited Hannah and she swam superbly to come through and touch in first place for both events! Two Gold medals at English Nationals is something to be very proud of.

I am incredibly proud of our swimmers; they train many hours a week with their clubs and work very hard. I am so pleased that they have achieved the amazing results they deserve. Next term we will be looking to try and qualify for the English Schools’ National Final for the fourth year in a row, of which I am very optimistic.

Lizzie Monkhouse
Senior School Swimming