University of Bath student-athletes won 21 medals, including gold in the swimming pool and on the athletics track, when they proudly represented The SU Bath at the BUCS Nationals 2025 in Sheffield.
Sixteen of those medals were secured by the University’s swimming squad during an excellent weekend which saw them place third in the overall rankings.
Alumni Fund Sporting Scholar Josh Gammon led the way with gold in both the 50m butterfly (23.72) and 200m butterfly (2:00.81) before teaming up with Matthew Ward, William Godsell and Cam Brooker for a thrilling victory in the last race of the meet – the men’s 4x100m medley relay (3:39.01).
Mark Skimming, Head of Swimming at the University of Bath, said: “It was fantastic to win the medley relay and to see everyone in the team support and celebrate the success together.
“There was a great team atmosphere throughout the weekend, with everyone contributing to a very good result. Everyone who swam produced a good performance and put themselves in a great place to move forward for the rest of the season.”
Gammon was also runner-up in the 100m butterfly (52.96), while Brooker and Jack Skerry – supported by Ivor Powell and US Foundation Scholarships respectively – shared silver in the 50m backstroke after they both touched the wall in 25.53.
It was Aquatics GB Bath Performance Centre swimmer Skerry’s second silver of the week, adding to his 100m backstroke medal (55.10), and there was double silver for Chemical Engineering student Hendrik Van Der Leest too in the 200m backstroke (2:00.65) and 200m butterfly (2:01.07), the latter completing a Bath 1-2 behind Gammon.
A seventh silver was secured by Civil Engineering student Niamh Ward in the 50m backstroke (29.02) and there were three individual bronze medals for the University of Bath Swimming Club – in the 100m backstroke for Van Der Leest (56.15) and in both the 100m and 200m freestyle for Business student Jemima Hall (56.06 and 2:01.14 respectively).
Hall and Maisie Elliott also won two relay bronze medals, teaming up with Anna Farrow and Annabel Smith in the 4x100m freestyle (3:49.21) before placing third with Ward and Emily Morgan-Hughes in the 4x100m medley (4:11.94). Another relay bronze came in the men’s 4x100m freestyle from Gammon, Skerry, Brooker and Ward (3:21.12).
Over at the English Institute of Sport Sheffield, Goldsmith Sporting Scholar Luke Ball set a new personal best when he cleared 2.14m at the first attempt to secure high jump gold for the University’s track and field squad.
Sports Performance student Basil Rock also won 800m bronze in a season’s best time of 1:50.23 after a thrilling finish which saw just two-tenths of a second separate the front four.
Maddie Casey narrowly missed out on a medal in the women’s 800m, placing fourth in a new PB of 2:11.17, and Ariyanna Grace McGee smashed her lifetime best (8.49) on her way to finishing sixth in the 60m hurdles, a position matched by Amelia Gray in the triple jump (12.29m). Ben Harrison also reached the men’s 1,500m final, placing eighth in 4:05.45.
There was a brace of bronze medals for University of Bath Fencing Club in the Canon Medical Arena, for Architecture fresher Ezgi Kocer in the senior women’s sabre and Biochemistry student Kate Haswell in the senior women’s epee.
Completing the medal haul were Isabelle Hill, Lucy Badcock and Maria Petrou who won women’s team kumite bronze in the BUCS Karate Championships.
Also on the podium in the badminton championships was Paris 2024 silver-medallist Dan Bethell, who trains at the University of Bath. He reached the final of the Para BUCS Championships with Wang Jiahua, representing Bristol.
Toby Dillingham and Harry Hodges were the standout performers for the Bath student badminton squad, reaching the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles.
Bath was also represented in the climbing championships and in total there were 108 student-athletes from the University who competed in the UK’s largest annual multi-sport event.
Find out more about combining study and sport at the University of Bath by visiting teambath.com/student and thesubath.com/sport.
With thanks to Team Bath
