The 2017 British Championships in Sheffield acted as trials for a number of International meets; World Championships (Budapest), World Junior Championships (Indianapolis), European Junior Championships (Israel) Commonwealth Youth Games (Bahamas) and the European Youth Olympic Festival (Turkey).
The team of 16 swimmers that competed in Sheffield made Stockport Metro LifeLeisure one of the largest teams to compete in Sheffield.
Day 1
The team started extremely well on the 1st day with a huge amount of Personal Best times, 7 in total across the junior and senior categories.
The team made a huge amount of finals on the 1st day, 6 in total.
Heat Swims
Mens 400 Freestyle
Harrison Coulter 3:55.73 Personal Best
Women’s 200 Freestyle
Holly Hibbott 2:02.17
Elizabeth Harris 2:04.37
Madeleine Crompton 2:06.07
Men’s 100 Breaststroke
Oliver Crosby 1:04.22 Personal Best
Women’s 400 I.M
Lucy McKenzie 4:49.64
Megan Sheard 4:56.97 Personal Best
Kiera Henley 5:06.37
Men’s 50 Backstroke
Ciaran Beard-Jones 27.24
Finalists were
Harrison Coulter in the Men’s 400m Freestyle Junior Final where he came 2nd smashing his life time best which qualified him for British team selection to the World Youth Championships in Indianapolis.
Elizabeth Harris in the Women’s 200m Freestyle Junior final where she came 4th which qualified her for British Team Selection to the European Junior Championships in Israel.
Holly Hibbott in the Women’s 200 freestyle Target Tokyo final where she swam a life time best to finish 1st giving her confidence to take on the seniors in her favoured events.
Oliver Crosby in the Men’s 100 Breaststroke Junior Final where he finished 4th in a life time best which qualified him for British Team Selection to the European Junior Championships in Israel.
Lucy McKenzie in the Women’s 400 I.M Senior Final where she finished 8th
Megan Sheard in the Women’s 400 I.M Junior Final swam her 2nd life time best of the day where she finished 6th
On day 1 the team had an 83.3% improvement rate of swimmers swimming quicker in finals stepping up to make a total of 3 British team selections.
Day 2
On Day 2 the team continued to perform outstanding with a further 7 life time best making 5 finals/top 8 finished.
Heat Swims
Women’s 100 Backstroke
Katelyn Bergin 1:04.38
Men’s 200 Butterfly
Harrison Coulter 2:07.63
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
Katie Matts 2:27.24
Olivia Herron 2:38.64 Personal Best
Men’s 100 Backstroke
Ciaran Beard-Jones 58.68
Women’s 50 Butterfly
Ciara Standing 28.00
Elizabeth Harris 28.94
Rebecca Pearson 29.17
Mens 50 Breaststroke
Oliver Crosby 29.65 Personal Best
LADIES 800m Freestyle
Holly Hibbott 8:31.78
Alisha Hawkins 9:02.97 Personal Best
Finalists were
Alisha Hawkins in the Women’s Junior 800 Freestyle swam a huge 8 second lifetime best to place 6th in the Junior Category
Holly Hibbott in the Women’s Senior 800 Freestyle took on the Double Olympic silver medalist narrowly missing out on gold securing her a Senior Silver medal giving her confidence she could beat the best in world.
Katie Matts in the Women’s 200 Breaststroke Senior Final swam a lifetime best of 2:25.51 this made her the 17th fastest female in the World after all the big swimming nations have had their trials. This time was good enough for 4th in an event where Britain have 3 other females inside the top 6.
Ciara Standing in the Women’s 50 Butterfly Tokyo Target Final swam a life time best to finish 5th
Oliver Crosby in the Men’s 50 Breaststroke Junior Final swam a life time best just 19 100th’s of a second off breaking the Junior British record to place 3rd just 12 100th of a second off winning. This qualified Oliver to compete in this events at the European Junior Championships in Israel.
On day 2 the team had a 100% improvement rate from heats to finals showing the strength of the team.
Day 3
Day 3 saw the team perform 2 life time best swims qualifying for 1 final and 2 top 8 finishes.
Heat Swims
Men’s 1500 Freestyle
Harrison Coulter 15:37.66 Personal Best
Women’s 200 Butterfly
Holly Hibbott 2:13.11
Elizabeth Harris 2:19.20 Personal Best
Katelyn Bergin 2:21.93
Emma Rowson 2:24.18
Top 8 finishes
Harrison Coulter with the swim of the day in the Men’s Junior 1500 Freestyle smashed his life time best by a huge 19 seconds swimming a time of 15:37.66 placing him 2nd Junior and 7th Senior to qualify him to compete in this event at the World Junior Championships.
Finalist
Holly Hibbott in the Women’s 200 Butterfly Senior Final was 8th
On day 3 the team qualified for one extra event at the World Junior championships with a 0% improvement from heats to finals.
Day 4
Day 4 was Stockport’s quietist day with a lot of the team having a training day. The team continued to gain momentum with 3 life time bests and qualified for 1 final.
Heat Swims
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
Oliver Crosby 2:22.04 Personal Best
Women’s 100 Freestyle
Elizabeth Harris 57.04 Personal Best
Madeleine Crompton 58.29
Women’s 200 Backstroke
Katelyn Bergin 2:19.50
Emma Rowson 2:22.81
Finalists were
Elizabeth Harris in the Women’s 100 Freestyle junior final where in the heats Elizabeth improved her rankings from 22nd to 2nd with a huge life time best. Another life time best of 56.75 was good enough for 3rd and the ability to swim this event at the European Junior Championships that she qualified for earlier in the week.
On Day 4 the team had a 100% improvement from Heats to finals to qualify in one more event on the British European Junior team.
Day 5
As the meet gets into the latter stages opportunities present themselves for the teams most prepared for competing over a 6 day meet, the fatigue of competing over 6 days is significant but on day 5 the Stockport team was gaining in strength. The team swam a total of 6 life time best to make 5 more finals.
Heat Swims
Women’s 400 Freestyle
Holly Hibbott 4:12.49
Elizabeth Harris 4:23.41
Alisha Hawkins 4:23.90 Personal Best
Megan Sheard 4:31.26
Men’s 200 I.M
Oliver Crosby 2:10.77
Women’s 200 I.M
Katie Matts 2:16.35
Lucy McKenzie 2:19.84
Katelyn Bergin 2:22.54 Personal Best
Kiera Henley 2:23.16 Personal Best
Megan Sheard 4:25.43
Men’s 50 Freestyle
Jake Clappison 24.24 Personal Best
Women’s 50 Backstroke
Katelyn Bergin 30.16
Finalists were
Alisha Hawkins in the Women’s 400 Freestyle Junior final swimming a huge life time best of 5 seconds to improve her rankings from 28th to 7th.
Elizabeth Harris also in the Women’s 400 Freestyle Junior final this meant the Stockport girls took up 25% of the final places showing our strength in depth. Elizabeth placed 5th narrowly missing out on the top 3
Holly Hibbott in the Women’s 400 Freestyle Senior Final swam. Bridging the gap from Junior to senior success is a hard one, particularly with British swimming the most improved Swimming Nation in the world and even more so when you are Tasked with having to Beat the Double Olympic medalist to qualify for your 1st Senior International team.
Holly swam an outstanding race and at the 350m mark put in a massive last turn to take the lead which increased to a significant 2 meters by the finish of the race. Holly’s time of 4:06.37 is the 6th fastest time in the world and qualifies Holly for her 1st ever senior International team and a place on the British World Championships team in the summer.
Katie Matts in the Women’s 200 I.M Senior Final showed she is more than a Breaststroke specialist to smash her life time best to finish 4th
Lucy McKenzie in the Women’s 200 I.M Target Tokyo final in her last swim for the club before retirement finished on a high note placing 4th.
On day 5 the team had an 80% improvement from heats to finals with Holly Hibbott making the World championships team in Budapest.
Day 6
On the final day of the championships the Stockport team didn’t take their foot of the accelerator and swam a further 4 lifetime bests and made another 3 finals.
Heat Swims
Men’s 200 Freestyle
Harrison Coulter 1:51.13 Personal Best
Womens 100 Breaststroke
Katie Matts 1:09.78
Olivia Herron 1:14.15
Women's 100 Butterfly
Holly Hibbott 1:01.93
Katelyn Bergin 1:03.04
Elizabeth Harris 1:03.49 Personal Best
Rebecca Pearson 1:03.76
Emma Rowson 1:03.80 Personal Best
Finalists were
Harrison Coulter in the Men’s 200 Freestyle Junior Final swam a time of 1:51.08 to finish 3rd which was his 3rd swim of the championships that was a qualifying event for the World Youth Championships.
Katie Matts in the Women’s 100 Breaststroke Target Tokyo final swam a fantastic race to place 1st in a time of 1:09.
Holly Hibbott in the Women’s 100 Butterfly Target Tokyo Final swam quicker from heats to final in a time of 1:01.53 to finish 4th
On Day 6 the team had a 100% improvement from heats to finals and qualified for a further event at the World Youth Championships.
Summary
Stockport Metro LifeLeisure athletes swam 28 lifetime best performances, they made a total of 22 finals in 50 to 1500m events showing great strength in depth. The team Broke 11 club records and 4 people qualified for British teams in the summer:
World Championships Holly Hibbott 400-800 Freestyle
World Youth Championships Harrison Coulter 200-400-1500-4 x 200 Freestyle relay
European Junior Championships Elizabeth Harris 100-200-400-4 x 100-200 Freestyle relay
European Junior Championships Oliver Crosby 50-100-200 Breaststroke
Stockport Metro swimmers performed 3 times that place them in the top 20 in the world from 2 different swimmers.
Stockport Metro LifeLeisure was mentioned by Swimvortex a worldwide site as being one of 4 swimming programmes in Britain that are the “birth place” for British talent,