FOUR young swimmers from East Lothian Swim Team (ELST) headed south last week to compete in the British Swimming Championships held at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield.
Stefan Krawiec competed in five events (100m and 200m butterfly, 100m and 200m freestyle, and the 200m individual medley (IM)), while Luke Hornsey competed in four events (200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle), and sisters Helen and Louisa Stoddart both competed in the 50m butterfly.
Krawiec qualified for two junior finals (18 years and under for boys), finishing a fantastic fourth in both the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly and taking over a second off his personal best (PB) in both events.
Hornsey had an exhausting week, swimming in the distance freestyle events.
In his 1,500m freestyle, the longest event in swimming, he dropped an impressive eight seconds off his PB and finished seventh in the junior age group category with a time of 16m30.35s.
The Stoddart sisters both swam very well in the 50m butterfly, with Helen qualifying for the junior final (17 years and under for girls), finishing joint fifth and improving her PB for the event by 0.40 seconds – an amazing achievement considering that Helen still has two more years to compete in the junior category.
Danny Kirkham, ELST performance squad coach, was delighted with all four swimmers’ efforts.
He said: “Qualifying for the British Swimming Championships is an amazing achievement for these incredibly talented swimmers, and a real testament for all the hard work they put into training.
“I could not have been prouder of their efforts.
“They were a credit to themselves, their families, and their team.”
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