Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club

Affiliated to Swim England East Region

Competition reports

Neill SNAGS Gold in Glasgow

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Five events, five finals, seven PBs and three medals at a National level competition!  BSSC Elites swimmer Kirsty Neill recently headed north of the border to the Scottish National Age Group championships (SNAGS), the largest event in the Scottish National swimming calendar that pre-pandemic attracted over 1000 athletes from across the UK and beyond.  After a three year hiatus, the 2022 competition was held at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow and Kirsty qualified for five events in the 15 year age group: 50/100/200m Breaststroke, 200m Individual Medley and 400m Freestyle. 

Day one of the competition and Kirsty secured a place in the 50m Breaststroke final with a great personal best (PB) time and broke her own PB in the final that evening to get Bronze.

Next up was Kirsty’s favourite race, the 200m Breaststroke.  In qualifying she was narrowly beaten into second place, but after some text conversations with her BSSC coach, Mathieu Leroy, who was watching on the YouTube live stream back in Stortford, she absolutely stormed to Gold and a new PB in the final.  Having been nearly 2.5 seconds behind the leader at the turn for the final length, the commentary on the live feed during her winning comeback was hugely entertaining!

“Well, I did not see that coming at all”

“She should not be able to do that – it should not be possible”

“Came back like a train”

Days three and four there were more two more events, two more finals and four more PBs, resulting in 6th in the 400m Freestyle and 4th in the 200m IM.

The final day of the competition was another breaststroke day, this time the 100m and another rivalry with the swimmer she beat into second in the 200m Breaststroke.  Unfortunately, this time it was Kirsty’s turn to lose out, but she still secured a superb Silver medal.

Kirsty and her proud family supporters!

Congratulations to Kirsty for all her performances (and the family for the great support!), but especially the 200m Breaststroke swim that makes her the fastest 15 year old in Britain.

Four BSSC Swimmers Join the Top in Britain

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Congratulations to all our swimmers who competed at the British Swimming Championships in April. This annual event brings together the top swimmers in the country and with teams for many International events, including the upcoming Commonwealth games, being selected from the championship results the likes of Adam Peaty, Duncan Scott, Anna Hopkin and Abbie Wood were present and in great form!

Unfortunately, although they achieved the British Qualifying Time for the 50m Breaststroke, restrictions on numbers at the event meant Lauren Gore and our overseas member Holly Clifford did not get to compete, with Lauren missing out by just 0.06 seconds.  Niamh James also could not compete in the 50m Backstroke.  Well done to them all for achieving the times and we look forward to reporting on a future event where they have competed!

The remaining four BSSC swimmers swum superbly against the top swimmers in the Country, getting close to personal best times and beating them in the case of Callum (50m Butterfly) and Kirsty (50m Breaststroke).  In the 200m Breaststroke, Kirsty was the fastest swimmer in her 15 year old age group. 

It was also lovely to see an old club member, Cira Fletcher, still swimming and achieving so well.  Cira, swimming for Nova Centurion SC, came 6th in the open finals of the 50m and 200m breaststrokes with two PBs, and was 3rd in the B final on the 100m breaststroke with a time very close to her PB.

Focus now turns to Regionals and also qualifications for the British and English Summer Championships, where these swimmers will hopefully be joined by more club members.

  • Millie, Kirsty, Niamh, Coach Mat
  • Kirsty & Niamh with hoodies!!
  • Callum

Callum Davis (Open age group) – 50m Butterfly: 97th Open (26.29 PB)

Kirsty Neill (15 yr) – 50m Breaststroke: 7th fastest in age group (34.55 PB); 200m Breaststroke: 14/17yrs 20th overall, 1st in 2007 age group (2:40.85)

Millie Fields (Open age group) – 200m Freestyle: 107th Open (2:12.49)

Niamh James (Open age group) – 100m Backstroke: 71st Open (1:06.17); 200m Backstroke: 32nd Open (2:20.00)

Masterful Start to 2022 for a Trio of BSSC Masters

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The 2022 season has kicked off in style for three of our Masters.  Having celebrated their 2021 successes with FINA World Top 10 Rankings, Elizabeth Bellinger and Alyson Fordham both recently competed at the Essex Masters Championships.  Lizzie, the current British and European record holder in the 40-44yr age group, demolished the field to take gold in the 100m butterfly (1:08.18).  Alyson was on sizzling form in her 65-69yr group, dominating the three events she had entered, taking gold in the 50m and 200m freestyle in new European record times (30.93 and 2:34.06), and gold in the 400m freestyle with a new British record (5:29.40). 

Lizzie also was in great form at the 2022 Swim Wales Masters Championships, taking gold in 50m butterfly, and silver in both the 100m freestyle and 200m IM.

Sally’s recent trip to the Calverton and Bingham Masters competition in Nottinghamshire resulted in two golds in the 50m and 200m freestyle and overall 3rd place female in the 60/64 age group from only two races!

Late April, Alyson and Lizzie headed to the Newmarket Masters Open Meet and again dominated every race they entered. Lizzie took gold in the 100m butterfly and 200m IM with the fastest times recorded in Britain in her age group in the past 12 months. Alyson also took three golds in the 200m freestyle, 100m IM and 100m freestyle, with the 100m IM and 100m freestyle times also being new British Records.

Focus for this fabulous trio now moves to the British Masters Championships in June and the European Masters Championships in August.

2021 FINA World Top 10 Masters

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Despite 2021 being yet another year of extremely restricted training and limited competition opportunities, three BSSC Masters have been named in the recently released 2021 FINA World Masters Top 10 Short Course (25m) Rankings.  Elizabeth Bellinger (40-44yrs), Sally Winter (60-64yrs) and Alyson Fordham (65-69yrs) all secured multiple world top 10 finishes in their age groups.  Sally and Alyson also still feature on the FINA All Time top 10 rankings in their age groups, with Sally having the 9th and 10th fastest ever 200m freestyle swims (short course and long course respectively) and Alyson holding the 8th fastest short course 100m freestyle swim.

FINA World Masters Top Ten Rankings:

  • Elizabeth Bellinger: 4th 100m Butterfly, 6th 50m Butterfly, 10th 200m IM 
  • Sally Winter: 5th 100m Freestyle, 9th 200m Freestyle
  • Alyson Fordham: 5th 50m Freestyle

It’s a wrap for Counties 2022

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Once all the racing finished, Swim England Hertfordshire crowned the best overall swimmers and three BSSC swimmers secured top spot in the County for their age group: Ella Greatbatch (14 yrs), Kirsty Neill (15 yrs) and Niamh James (18/Over yrs).  Elliot Hall (12 Yrs) was 2nd in his group, whilst five other swimmers were in the top eight: 4th Dylan Davenport (13 yrs); Bella Parkus (17 yrs); 5th Ethan David-Tostevin (13 yrs), Jacob Hayes (15 yrs); 6th Brandon Macdonald-Williams (14 yrs).

  • Kirsty Neill
  • Ella Greatbatch
  • Niamh James

The medals from the whole competition were tallied across the clubs, and BSSC came a superb 4th overall behind the large clubs of Hatfield, City of St Albans and Potters Bar.  In fact, BSSC women (all ages) were ranked second, the Junior Championship women came first and both sexes came second in the Championship rankings.  After the challenges faced by all the swimmers since the last Counties in 2020, it was fantastic to see such great performances.

Don’t forget to explore our other articles about 2022 Counties: Future Stars Make a Splash at Counties, BSSC Celebrates County Successes and BSSC Has “Relay” Great Team Success!