PENARTH swimmer, Ieuan Lloyd, recently competed with his club in the British Swimming Championships.

Head coach Graham Wardell, from Penarth, reflects on a busy month of competitions which saw City of Cardiff swimmers compete in the British Swimming Championships, Swim Wales Easter Meet and The Arena Swimming League Finals.

The British Swimming Championships were held at the Aquatic Centre in London in mid April and a return to the Pool which hosted the Olympic swimming in London 2012. Swimmers were competing for a chance to qualify for World Championships to be held in Kazan later this year and be part of the GB Team.

Eight City of Cardiff swimmers competed, with Chloe Tutton being the most successful. Chloe broke two Welsh records in the 200m breaststroke, firstly in the heats and again in the final where she recorded a time of 2:26.76 which earned her a well deserved bronze medal. Chloe also made the final of the women’s 100 breaststroke, again recording a best time of 1:09.24 where she placed seventh.

Fellow Commonwealth Games swimmers, Ieuan Lloyd, Xavier Mohammed and Otto Putland swam well, with Ieuan and Xavier making the finals of the 200IM. Xavier also set a best time of 55.21 in the men’s 100m backstroke final finishing sixth, and again raced just off his best time in finishing sixth in the men’s 200m backstroke final.

Their younger swimmers Andrew Flanigan, Harriet Jones, James Lewis and Megan Squire all swam with distinction and secured PBs in their races. Graham Wardell commented “It was great to see our swimmers step up and swim their best times at the biggest meet of the season. This will set them up well, to go on and race quicker at the end of season target meets”.

At the same time as the London trials, the rest of the Cardiff club were competing at the Swim Wales Long Course Championships. These championships are traditionally held over the Easter Weekend and this year’s entry was by qualification from the three Welsh Regional competitions held earlier in the year. There were 73 swimmers from the club who qualified and secured an amazing 105 medals (43 Gold, 36 Silver and 26 Bronze). This was a huge performance by the swimmers, who were aged from 11 years old upwards, and showed the strength in depth of the club.

More recently, the National Arena Swimming League Finals were held at the Cardiff International Pooll with 20 of the top teams across the UK racing in A & B Finals. City of Cardiff were competing in the B final, and what an exciting final it was.

Cardiff won the first three events, and after 10 events had built up a lead over closest rivals the City of Sheffield Swim Team. The competition went to the wire, but unfortunately the home team were pipped at the post.

It was head coach Graham’s first Arena Finals with the team and he commented “What an amazing atmosphere! It was great to our swimmers racing so hard to try and win the league, and it was a great chance for the junior members of the club to swim alongside so many experienced senior international swimmers. Our parents provided excellent, support and really inspired the swimmers to pull off some tremendous performances”.