National Line Up 2023

Swindon Dolphin have an excellent total of eight national qualifiers for 2023. Competing across the British Summer Championships, Swim England National Summer Meet, Swim England Open Water event and Swim Wales Summer Open Meet, Swindon Dolphin will be looking for great success as they head towards the national meets.

Fred Carter, Eva Higginbotham and Lucas Carter have qualified for the British Summer Championships 2023 and both Fred and Eva, along with Sophie King, Neve Porton and Betina Puszkarska will compete at the Swim England National Summer Meet 2023. Ffion Mathias will compete at the Swim Wales Summer Open and Phoebe Kerley will compete in the Swim England National Open Water event.

Fred Carter (17) will compete at his first British Summer Championships in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke events. He is ranked 9th for the 100m event and 6th on the 50m event, so will be hoping for a Top 10 finish to earn him a final placing and potential medal at the Championships. He will compete in the 100m on Sunday 23rd July, and the 50m on Monday 24th July.

Fred will also compete at the Swim England National Summer Meet 2023 in the 200m Breaststroke on Thursday 3rd August and the 200m Individual Medley on Friday 4th August. Ranked fastest into the breaststroke event, Fred will be racing for a medal, in the hope of a repeat on last years gold medal performance. In the 200m Individual Medley, Fred is ranked 21st, looking to hit a personal best time for an improved ranking position.

Eva Higginbotham (14) will compete at the British Summer Championships in the 50m and 100m Freestyle events. She is ranked 12th in the 50m event and 22nd in the 100m event, so will be looking for some new personal best times to earn her some improved ranking positions at her first British Championships. She will compete in the 50m Freestyle on Tuesday 25th July and the 100m Freestyle on Thursday 27th July.

Eva will also compete at the Swim England National Summer Meet 2023 for the second year running in the 200m Individual Medley. Ranked 10th going into the event on Friday 4th August, Eva will be hoping for a final spot and an improved ranking position.

Lucas Carter (15) will compete at his first British Summer Championships in the 100m Breaststroke. He is ranked 10th for the event and will also be hoping for a Top 10 finish at the Championships and a potential medal placing. He is competing on Sunday 23rd July.

Sophie King (14) will compete at the Swim England National Summer Meet 2023 for the second year running in the 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke and the 200m and 400m Individual Medley events. She is racing in all five events across five days of competition, from Wednesday 2nd August, starting with the 100m Breaststroke until Sunday 6th August, finishing with the 400m Individual Medley. She is ranked 18th in the 100m Breaststroke, 12th in the 200m Breaststroke, 5th in the 200m Individual Medley, 18th in the 50m Breaststroke and 8th in the 400m Individual Medley. We look forward to seeing many personal best times and final placings during the week of competition.

Neve Porton (15) will compete at her first Swim England National Summer Meet in the 50m Freestyle on Thursday 3rd August. She is ranked 15th into the event, so will be looking for an improved swim and a final placing at the Championships.

Betina Puszkarska (13) will compete at her first Swim England National Summer Meet in one of her favoured event, the 200m Butterfly, on Saturday 5th August. She is ranked 14th going into the event and will be looking for a new personal best time, an improved ranking position, and a potential top ten finish.

Ffion Mathias (17) will compete again at the Swim Wales Summer Open 2023 in the 50m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 1500m Freestyle, 50m Breaststroke, 100m Breaststroke, 200m Individual Medley and 400m Individual Medley. With a busy programme over the 5 days of competition, Ffion will race from Thursday 3rd August to Monday 7th August. Ffion will also be looking for new personal best times, final placings and medals.

Phoebe Kerley (12) will be competing at the Swim England National Open Water event. After qualifying from her excellent 800m and 1500m pool swim times at the Regional Championships, the youngster will enjoy the experience of her first national level meet in the 2km event. At the recent combined Regional Open Water Championships, Phoebe finished as the overall 12 years champion in the 2km event out of the South West, East Midlands and West Midlands regions.

As a result of the number of athletes the club have qualifying for National events, Head Coach Anthony Clark has been invited to attend the South West coaching committee group, which allows him to provide valuable input for the voices of coaches in the region.

Commenting on the qualifiers, Anthony said, "This year, we have witnessed an incredible surge in performance from our swimmers at Swindon Dolphin, with a greater number of participants qualifying for the prestigious British event compared to the previous year. Additionally, we are thrilled to welcome two new qualifiers from our Age Group Squads, showcasing their tremendous potential.

I want to emphasise that this achievement is a testament to the outstanding teamwork exhibited by the entire club. Whether a swimmer, parent, official, committee member, or coach, each and every member has played a vital role in this success by maintaining an environment that consistently yields impressive results.

I take immense pride in knowing that all eight representatives of our club who will be competing in the Summer Meets possess the necessary skills and potential to excel. I am confident that they will deliver remarkable performances and make us all proud."