Silver medals and a flurry of PBs for Team Bath AS at Speedo National Summer Meet
It's been another great week for our Team Bath AS swimmers, nine of whom competed in Swim England's Speedo National Summer Meet 2022. The English National meet was back for the first time since the pandemic and was well attended, with over 1,400 swimmers competing. The five-day-long event saw both able-bodied and para-swimming athletes compete in Sheffield.
Like the British Nationals held in July, there was a wave of new personal bests (PBs) from Team Bath AS, including several swimmers who not only got new PBs in their heats but then secured a better PB later in the day in their finals.
The week's highlights were Max Adams, who took Silver in the 17 yrs 100 Freestyle with a new PB. He swam superbly in a tight race, finishing in 54:54, and just missed out on Gold by one-hundredth of a second. Emily Shuttleworth had a cracking race in the 800 Free, finishing in 9:26.37 - a six-second PB - to secure Silver in the 17 yrs group.
The week started strong with Day 1 seeing Max Adams and Oliver Watts blast their way into the finals, securing 5th place in the 17 yrs 50 and 100 Breaststroke, respectively. Oliver Saunders and Max Adams were in action on Day 2, securing new PBs in their respective events: Oliver came 5th in the 17 yrs 100 Butterfly and Max 9th in the 17 yrs 200 Freestyle finals. Ed Davey made his debut at the Swim England Nationals in the 200 Breaststroke, placing 17th in the heats.
Day 3 saw a flurry of PBs for Mark Edmundson, Emily Shuttleworth, and Oliver Saunders , each secured a place in their respective finals. Mark just missed out on a medal, coming a brilliant 4th in the 18 yrs 50 Backstroke; Emily came 5th in a superb race in the 17 yrs 400 Freestyle, and Oliver a solid 7th in the 17 yrs 200 IM.
By Day 4, Team Bath AS was on a roll with Oliver Saunders and Oliver Watts securing finalist spots: Oliver S placed 6th in the 17 yrs 100 Backstroke, with Oliver W placing 9th in the 17 yrs 50 Freestyle.
On the final day of the meet, Finlay Saunders safely secured his place in the 200 Backstroke final in 2:10.93, a new PB. He then went on to smash this new PB later on in the finals, where he placed an impressive 5th.
Swim England Speedo National Summer Meet 2022 full results:
Max Adams (17) Finalist 50 Free (5th), Finalist 200 Free (9th), Finalist 100 Free (Silver/2nd)
Ed Davey (14) 200 Breast (17th)
Mark Edmundson (18) Finalist 50 Back (4th)
Finlay Saunders (18) Finalist 200 Back (5th)
Oliver Saunders (17) Finalist 100 Fly (9th), Finalist 200 IM (7th), Finalist 100 Back (6th)
Emily Shuttleworth (17) Finalist 400 Free (5th), 800 Free (Silver/2nd)
Oliver Watts (17) Finalist 100 Breast (5th), Finalist 50 Breast (8th)
A shout-out also goes to Katherine Butcher who competed in the Welsh Nationals last week, placing 5th in the 18 yrs 50 Fly and 14th in the 100 Fly.
Well done to Team Bath AS swimmers who worked so hard to qualify for the British Nationals, the Swim Wales Summer Open, and Swim England National Speedo Meet. What a fantastic end to a great 2022 season.
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