Masters squad

The annual British Masters Championships recently returned to Ponds Forge in Sheffield for the first time in seven years.  Three BSSC Masters, Alyson Fordham, Lizzie Bellinger and Sally Winter joined more than 800 masters swimmers from across the home nations to compete in the 50m pool event. It was a thrilling and inspiring weekend, with multiple British and European records being set, including some by our BSSC swimmers!

Alyson Fordham became the first European woman in the 65-69 year category to swim under 31 seconds in the 50m Freestyle, taking Gold with a blistering time of 30.56 that many teenagers would be proud to achieve!  She broke the British record to win the 50m Backstroke in a time of 38.53, took Gold in the 100m Freestyle (1:09.16) and according to Swim England, she was the star of the show in the 200m Freestyle, becoming a British record holder with a time of 2:38.23, securing Gold 3.10 seconds ahead of Silver and beating the previous best by 1.31!  Sally Winter also took Gold in her age category (60-64 years) in a superb 200m Freestyle time of 2:35.61 and Bronze in the 100m Freestyle (1:10.73).

A British record also came from Lizzie Bellinger in the 100m Butterfly 45-49 years category taking Gold more than two seconds ahead of her closest rival in a time of 1:08.70, whilst Alyson also squeezed in a Silver in the 50m Breaststroke (41.65).

Massive congratulations to all three of our Masters swimmers.

Congratulations to BSSC Masters swimmer Elizabeth Bellinger who was recently in golden form at the Yorkshire Masters Long Course Open Meet.  Lizzie took Gold in 100m Fly (1:09.13), 100m Back (1:18.73) and 50m Fly (30.10), securing three new East Region records in the 45/49 Yrs age group and finishing just one tenth of a second off the 100m Fly British age group record!

Lizzie has one more Masters open meet before competing in the British Masters Championships early June, but her main focus for this season is the European Aquathlon being held in Belgium this August.

The FINA Masters rankings for 2022 have just been published and three BSSC swimmers have achieved swims that feature in the World Top 10 fastest lists! 

Alyson Fordham, competing in the 65-69 year old category, had a fantastic year achieving the 2^nd fastest swim in the world in 2022 in the 50m and 200m Freestyle events, 3^rd fastest for the 100m Freestyle and 100m IM, 5^th in the 50m Backstroke and 7^th for 400m Freestyle all in the short course (25m pool) format.  In the long course (50m pool) format, she was 2^nd fastest in the 50m Freestyle, 4th in the 100m freestyle and 10^th in the 400m Freestyle.

Elizabeth Bellinger (40-45yrs) and Sally Winter (60-65yrs) also got into the 2022 top 10 rankings for short course events, with Lizzie being the 5^th fastest competitor in the world in the 100m Butterfly and Sally the 7^th fastest in the 200m Freestyle and 10^th in the 100m Freestyle.

Alyson’s times from the 2022 season also propelled her into the top 10 fastest swims of all time for six events (four short course and two long course), with four of the times being new European records.  By the end of 2022, she held both European records for 50m Freestyle and had the 4^th fastest ever short course (25m) swim and the 7^th long course (50m).  Her other two European Records were in the SC 200m Freestyle and the SC 100m IM where she ranked 4^th and 5^th in the world all time rankings respectively.  Finally, in the 100m Freestyle she has the 7^th fastest SC and 9^th fastest LC swims.

2023 has started well for all three swimmers (see previous News articles) and we send huge good luck wishes to them all for the rest of the season.

FINA All Time Long Course (50m)

65-69yrs Alyson Fordham

• 7^th 50m Freestyle (31.13, European Record)
• 9^th 100m Freestyle (1:10.53)

FINA All Time Short Course (25m)

65-69yrs Alyson Fordham

• 4^th 50m Freestyle (30.33, European Record) & 200m Freestyle (2:33.14, European Record)
• 5^th 100m IM (1:20.35, European Record)
• 7^th 100m Freestyle (1:08.96)

FINA 2022 Long Course (50m)

65-69yrs Alyson Fordham

• 2^nd 50m Freestyle (31.13)
• 4^th 100m Freestyle (1:10.53)
• 10^th 400m Freestyle (5:47.04)

FINA 2022 Short Course (25m)

40-45yrs Elizabeth Bellinger

• 5^th 100m Butterfly (1:07.45)

60-64yrs Sally Winter

• 7^th 200m Freestyle (2:27.99)
• 10^th 100m Freestyle (1:08.77)

65-69yrs Alyson Fordham

• 2^nd 50m Freestyle (30.33) & 200m Freestyle (2:33.14)
• 3^rd 100m Freestyle (1:08.96) & 100m IM (1:20.35)
• 5^th 50m Backstroke (38.20)
• 7^th 400m Freestyle (5:20.40)