The Santander Sporting Scholar, who started a Sports Performance course in September, will partner Freya Redfearn in the girls’ doubles competition taking place from November 5-18 in Markham near Toronto.

They will go into the tournament with confidence high after winning gold earlier this month at the TEM Slovenia Junior International, with Chapman also teaming up with Will Jones to claim her first mixed doubles title.

“I’ve been playing doubles with Freya for the past three years but Slovenia was the first time I’d played in the mixed with Will, so it wasn’t a bad start,” said Chapman, who also competed at the European Junior Championships in Estonia in September.

“I used to play singles but I was getting better results in the doubles so I thought I would focus my attention on that and it has definitely helped. Last year I won titles in Belgium and the Czech Republic, and I’ve had some more good results this year.

“The World Juniors will be my last competition before I move up to senior level next year, so it will be a good way to finish my junior career.”

Chapman, from Milton Keynes, used to play tennis but switched racket sports six years ago after spotting a flyer for badminton trials. She quickly displayed a natural ability for the sport and it was while competing on the national junior circuit that she met Peter Bush, Head of Badminton at the University of Bath.

“I saw Pete at several tournaments and he would tell me about the badminton set-up here in Bath and the support I could get with my sport and studies,” she said.

“It really interested me so I came here for an open day and really liked the campus, how everything – accommodation, lectures and training – is within walking distance. I also liked the city as well.

“It’s been a hectic few weeks with starting university and competing internationally but I think I am managing OK so far. There are a lot of people on my course who are in a similar situation, so the lecturers are used to that and support you.

“I’ve also been fortunate enough to receive a Santander Sports Scholarship. I was so happy when I got it, it has already been a massive help with training and competing.”

Badminton is one of the strongest student sport clubs at the University of Bath, with the men’s and women’s teams regularly topping their BUCS [British Universities & Colleges Sport] league tables in recent years.

“I’ve played three BUCS matches and they have been really exciting,” said Chapman. “Being part of the team has been great and everyone has made me feel so welcome. Bath has built a great reputation for badminton and it’s good to be a part of that.”

For more information about the badminton programme at the University of Bath, visit www.teambath.com/badminton.

Courtesy of Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd

The World Best Times were spread over two of the five days of racing and included the men’s single sculls time falling twice in the same day. The final time went to Clarke Dean of the United States whose winning time of 6:45 in the semi-finals yesterday brought him to within one second of the under-23 World Best Time.

Dean took gold in the final today ahead of Australia’s Cormac Kennedy-Leverett and Tristan Vandenbussche of Belgium who won silver and bronze respectively. Dean’s medal also helped the United States to finish at the top of the overall medals table. The US won a total of seven medals. This included two gold medals with the women’s four also winning gold. The United States held off the fast-finishing Italians to win the gold with New Zealand coming through in third.

Italy was second on the medals table with five medals, two of them gold. The golds were a double-header in the coxed four with both the men and women winning. This is the first year that the women’s coxed four is included the junior championships, giving Italy the inaugural win. Australia was second and the United States finished third. The bronze medal US crew also set a new junior World Best Time earlier in the week in this boat class.

Great Britain finished in third on the medals table, while the Czech Republic and Romania came in at fourth equal. This is a drop for Romania who topped the medals table in 2017 in Trakai, Lithuania. An outstanding performance by Romania’s women’s single sculler, Tabita Maftei secured one of her country’s two gold medals. Maftei’s win saw her stay ahead of the reigning junior champion, Esther Briz Zamorano of Spain as well as Argentina’s Maria Sol Ordas who had set a new junior World Best Time the day before. Ordas claimed silver while a closing sprint by Italy’s Greta Martinelli earned her the bronze.

Romania took a surprise win in the men’s pair when Florin Arteni-Fintinariu and Alexandru-Laurentiu Danciu finished first ahead of the reigning junior champions, Patrik and Anton Loncaric of Croatia. The Loncaric twins had set a new junior World Best Time the day before and then won the bronze medal in the final, while Germany’s Elias Kun and Jasper Angl took silver after finishing third in 2017.

The women’s eight and men’s quadruple sculls races stole the hearts of the crowd and earned two gold medals for the host country. The Czech Republic win in the women’s eight saw them defend their 2017 title with the men’s quad holding off Germany and Great Britain to take the win in that event.

The men’s eight brought the regatta to a close with Great Britain dominating throughout the race. The United States held on to second with the reigning junior champions, Germany finishing in third.

In 2019 the World Rowing Junior Championships will go to Tokyo, Japan where it will double as a test event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The 2018 World Rowing season now moves on to the World Rowing Championships from 9-16 September in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Courtesy of World Rowing

The United States revealed a new single sculling sensation with Clark Dean winning the men’s single sculls. The 17-year-old Dean also raced for his country in the men’s coxed four, but it was the single where he left his mark. Dean dominated the final with Moritz Wolff of Germany finishing second and South Africa’s Mmbudzeni Masutha in third.

The men’s single had the most number of countries entered at the regatta and the women’s single was the next biggest boat class. Spain’s Esther Briz Zamorani took gold in the women’s single finishing ahead of silver medallist, Megan Hancock of South Africa and France’s Margaux Bailleul who won bronze.

Croatian twins, Patrik and Anton Loncaric looked to emulate their senior counterparts, the Sinkovic brothers, by winning the men’s pair. They took gold over Romania and Turkey. Croatia also won gold in the women’s four – the new Olympic boat class. Croatia’s women’s four dominated their races throughout the week and in the final they stayed ahead of silver medallists, Romania and bronze medallists the United States.

Germany won gold in the men’s eight to defend their 2016 junior champion title. The Germans had to overtake Russia and then get ahead of the United States before they took the lead near the end of the race. The United States won silver with Great Britain in the bronze medal spot. The women’s eight was successfully defended by 2016 junior champions, the Czech Republic. Behind the Czech Republic, Germany took silver and Romania was the bronze medallists.

Medals went to 17 nations with the medals table being topped by Romania which won six medals including two golds, two silvers and two bronzes. The Romanian golds were in the women’s pair and women’s quadruple sculls. Great Britain took second with two golds and one each of silver and bronze. Croatia also had two gold medals to put them third on the medals table.

Finishing positions at this regatta earned spots for 21 countries at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. These spots will still go through an approval process as this is the first step towards qualification for the YOG that will take place in Buenos Aires in October 2018.

The 2017 World Rowing season now moves on to the World Rowing Masters Regatta from 6-10 September in Bled, Slovenia and then the World Rowing Championships. The World Championships will take place in Sarasota-Bradenton, United States starting 24 September 2017.

Report courtesy of World Rowing

The Pentathlon GB duo started Saturday’s competition with a solid swim, their time of 2:13.05 putting them eighth out of the 12 teams.

An impressive 27 wins in fencing ­ the best performance of the day ­ moved them up the rankings and they went into the combined event in fourth following two knockdowns and eight time penalties in the ride. That meant they started 23 seconds behind leaders Russia but a brilliant performance by Prise saw her overtake all three nations in front of her in the first 800m.

Source: Pentathlon GB

Francesca Summers

Quick and accurate shooting allowed her to hand over a lead of around ten seconds to Summers, who was briefly overtaken by Russia with 150m to go. However, as when she won the individual women’s title on Thursday, Summers was able to put in another burst and secure her second gold medal of the championships.

Prise, a Bill Whiteley Sports Scholar and Dual Career athlete, moved to the University of Bath last September to begin a Mathematics degree and train with Pentathlon GB.

“Thank you to everyone who helped me this year,” said Prise. “It’s been challenging with a move to the University of Bath, starting a degree and joining the team at the National Traning Centre but everything has come together for this championships. We had a great day today and worked really well together as a team ­I’m really excited to see what next season holds for us.”

Summers, Prise and Sociology student Georgia Pipes won silver medals in the women’s team event on Thursday.

Pipes teamed up with Tommy Lees to finish fifth in the mixed relay on Sunday, narrowly missing out on a medal in the combined run/shoot. Lees and Sports Performance student Luke Tasker were seventh in the men’s relay on Friday.

Pentathlon GB’s thoughts now turn to the senior European Championships, taking place at the University of Bath from August 18-23.

Summers will be in an eight-strong British team taking on the best all-round athletes on the continent.

Not only it is a home championships for Pentathlon GB’s athletes but it is also a Rio 2016 qualifier, with eight Olympic qualification places to be won in both the men’s and women’s competitions.

Ticket prices start at just £6 for adults and £1 for under-18s. You can buy tickets or get further information here.

Report courtesy of the Team Bath press office at Matchtight Ltd

The 19-year-old, a Youth Olympic Games silver-medallist in 2014, went into the combined run/shoot in ninth place but produced a storming performance to take the lead at the final shoot.

She then held off a determined challenge from Russia’s Sofia Serkina in the last few metres to cross the line first and take gold, although she had to wait 20 minutes for it to be confirmed following an appeal.

Mathematics student Eilidh Prise, a Bill Whiteley Sports Scholar and Dual Career athlete at the University of Bath, was seventh overall and Sociology student Georgia Pipes was 27th. Those results meant that the Pentathlon GB trio also won silver in the women’s team event.

Summers was overjoyed by her success, saying: “I’m really happy, so happy that I can’t even describe.”

She is next in action at the European Championships, taking place at the Sports Training Village ­ the home of Pentathlon GB ­ from August 18-23.

“I¹m looking forward to it,” said Summers, who will feature in an eight-strong Pentathlon GB squad alongside 2014 senior World Champion Samantha Murray. “As the top eight qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, we will see how that goes.”

Summers was 25th after the opening swim discipline, with Pipes performing well to set the second-fastest time of 2:18.27.

An excellent fencing display, in which she won 24 of her bouts, moved Summers up the rankings and she was ninth overall after scoring 289 points in the show-jumping.

Pipes won 18 of her fencing bouts and picked up just one time penalty in the riding to go into the combined run/shoot in fifth place, while Prise started the last discipline in 13th after 18 fencing wins and a score of 293 points in the show-jumping.

The previous day had seen Tommy Lees finish 29th in the men’s final. He will team with up Sports Performance student Luke Tasker in the men’s relay on Friday.

Tickets are now on sale to see Summers and her Pentathlon GB team-mates take on the continent’s finest at the European Championships.

The competition, which doubles as a Rio 2016 Olympic qualifier, is taking place from August 18-23 at the Sports Training Village and ticket prices start at just £6 for adults and £1 for under-18s.

You can buy tickets or get further information here.

Report courtesy of the Team Bath press office at Matchtight Ltd