Sixth Form Swimmers Set Personal Bests at National Championships

Two exceptionally talented swimmers from King’s Sixth Form, Ben G and Harry C, represented the school with distinction at Swim England’s 2025 National Winter Championships, held at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield in December.

The National Winter Championships are a senior-level competition, attracting the fastest swimmers from across the country, including a number of Great Britain and international-standard athletes. Both pupils qualified for multiple events across all four days of racing, an achievement in itself and one which required them to remain in Sheffield for the full duration of the Championships.

Harry competed in the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m Freestyle, alongside the 50m, 100m and 200m Butterfly. Ben raced in the 50m and 100m Freestyle, 50m and 100m Butterfly, as well as the 50m Backstroke. Despite the demands of such a challenging schedule, both swimmers performed superbly throughout the meet.

Ben produced a series of outstanding swims, achieving personal best times in the 50m Backstroke, 100m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly and 50m Butterfly. These performances earned him a place in the Open Male ‘B’ 50m Butterfly Final, where he finished an impressive 10th overall. A particular highlight of Ben’s championships came in the 100m Freestyle, where he broke the 50-second barrier for the first time, posting an outstanding personal best of 49.98 seconds – a remarkable achievement for a student still at King’s.

Harry also enjoyed an excellent Championships, recording personal best times in the 50m and 400m Freestyle, as well as the 50m, 100m and 200m Butterfly. He also swam extremely close to his best times in the 100m and 200m Freestyle. These performances saw Harry qualify for the Open Male Junior (17 Years) national finals in the 50m Butterfly, 100m Butterfly and 400m Freestyle, where he finished 6th, an outstanding 2nd, and 10th respectively.

Harry’s strongest performance came on the final day of competition, when he recorded another personal best in the heats of the 200m Butterfly to qualify for the final, before swimming yet another personal best later that day to finish 5th nationally. This result also earned him a superb 3rd place medal and podium finish in the Junior (17 Years) age category.

Following the event, Head of Swimming at King’s, Chris Jenkinson, who travelled to Sheffield to support the swimmers, said: “Just qualifying for these prestigious championships is an outstanding achievement in itself, so for both of these pupils to qualify for national finals in their respective events really is truly remarkable.”

“It is an achievement that King’s is particularly proud of, as it represents a deserved reward for the hard work, time, effort and dedication that these students put into their swimming, both at King’s and within their respective swimming programmes outside of school.”

A huge congratulations to both Harry and Ben on their exceptional performances and for representing King’s so proudly on the national stage.