Lizzie Simmonds set a new British record and there were 17 medals in total, eight of them gold, as University of Bath-based swimmers enjoyed a successful trip to Sheffield for the ASA National Winter Meet.
Double Olympian Simmonds, who is coached by Dave McNulty and Graeme Antwhistle at the British Swimming National Centre Bath, set a new 100m backstroke standard of 56.35 on the opening night of the competition.
Simmonds, supported by the University’s Dual Career programme, then went under 2:01 for the first time in four years as she won 200m backstroke gold in 2:00.91 – the third-fastest time in the world this year.
Sport Performance student Jay Lelliott, coached by Mark Skimming, set the second-quickest 1,500m freestyle time ever by a Brit as he won gold in a massive personal best of 14:36.49.
He also took the 400m freestyle title in 3:38.60 and won 200m freestyle bronze in 1:44.41, finishing half-a-second ahead of fellow University of Bath swimmer Calum Jarvis.
The latter, a Sport Performance graduate who won World relay gold this summer, clocked 47.89 to secure bronze in the 100m freestyle.
Jarvis also swam the anchor leg in the 4x100m medley final as he, William Harrison, Charlie Attwood and Lelliott won silver in 3:31.65.
And there was another relay medal for Harrison, Lelliott and Jarvis in the 4x100m freestyle, with Miles Munro also in the team that clocked 3:16.62.
The University of Bath women’s 4x100m medley team of Stephanie Reynolds, Rebecca Swales, Jemma Lowe and Anna Hopkin were silver-medallists in 4:00.46, edging out Stockport Metro in an exciting finish.
That was double Olympian Lowe’s third medal of the meeting, following on from her golds in both the 100m and 200m butterfly. Her winning times were 57.34 and 2:04.40 respectively.
University of Bath student Hopkin set a new personal best of 24.44 as she won 50m freestyle gold and there was a silver medal for Anne Bochmann in the 200m freestyle in 1:56.11.
Completing the University’s medal collection was National Centre Bath swimmer Joe Hulme, who was on the podium four times during a busy weekend.
He won 200m backstroke gold in 1:55.27, 400m individual medley silver in 4:14.50, 200m IM bronze in 1:59.47 and 100m backstroke bronze in 53.30.
All of the University of Bath-based swimmers train in the £1.6million London 2012 Legacy Pool, which is also open to use by the public. For details of opening times and prices visit the Team Bath website.
Report courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight.
