Olympic swimming trials for dedicated sixth form student
‘IT WAS A FANTASTIC EXPERIENCE’
OLYMPIC swimming trials were the reward for years of dedicated training by a Toll Bar Sixth Form student.
Libby Munday, 17, competed against the nation’s elite in London for a place in the Great British swimming squad.
While she did not make the Paris team, she reached the junior final of the 200-metre backstroke, finishing sixth with a new personal best, and swam a season’s best in the 100metre competition.
For the modest student, it was all about the experience. She had been excited to have been invited to the
I was delighted to reach the junior final and record a personal best in the 200 and season’s best at 100.
Libby Munday
British Swimming Championships and given the opportunity but had not expected to make the Olympic team.
“It was a fantastic experience, surrounded by the country’s elite swimmers,” she said.
“I was delighted to reach the junior final and record a personal best in the 200 and season’s best at 100.” The event at the London Aquatics Centre – built for the 2012 Olympics – was streamed live on BBC iPlayer so family and friends watched her success.
Mum Angie said that made her appearance even more special. “For Libby, being able to watch and be with the country’s elite was the equivalent of a young footballer being surrounded by players from the Premier League,” Angie said. “All in all, it was a successful few days.
“She then had two off before a 3.40am alarm on the Monday when she was back to full training to see what else she can do for the rest of the season.
“Swimming is full on with only three to four weeks off in August.” She represented Kingston upon Hull Swimming Club in London. It was a long way from when she started swimming at the now demolished Grimsby Swimming Pool on Scartho Road, aged nine. “I had a trial for Cleethorpes and District Swimming Club at the Lincs Inspire pool and that’s where it started,” Libby said.
“I started to swim competitively and moved up from there. I always enjoyed swimming lessons and being in the water. I then found I was enjoying competing. As I got older, I started to specialise.
“I do swim other strokes in lower competitions but, at the high level, it’s back stroke.”
During the pandemic, when swimming pools were closed like everything else, she set up a “paddling pool” in her back garden. “I had like this bungee band around my waist and was attached to the fence. So I was swimming without going anywhere.
“I kept it going when the weather was not too cold.” After the pandemic, local pools in schools reopened slowly and did not offer appropriate times, so she switched to Hull.
Her training regime is relentless. Morning sessions start at 5am,
meaning the 3.40am alarm call. She car shares with another local swimmer Rio Daodu.
Libby, taking A-levels in PE, biology and psychology, trains twice on a Monday and Wednesday, once on a Tuesday and Thursday and at home on a Friday. She’s also started training at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge Olympic-size pool on a Saturday. “I do enjoy the training. Sometimes, it can be tedious when you’re doing the same thing all the time but, when I do well in competitions, it makes it all worthwhile.”
Up to the London event, her proudest moment had been making the British national finals for the first time in 2019, winning silver in the 200m backstroke. It was at the same event in 2022 that she made all her finals, something she had not done before.
“It was a shock to get to all the finals because of the rough seasons during Covid when I didn’t train as much,” she said.
She made four national finals last year, one at the British Championship and three at the British Summer Nationals in July, swimming a personal best in the 200m backstroke.
The green light to compete in the Olympic trials came a few weeks ago when, in the English Schools’
Swimming Association’s championships, she landed gold in the 200m and silver at 100m.
It qualified her to represent Team England in the World School Championships in Bahrain but there was disappointment when a lack of funding led to the team being pulled out.
“In the future, I do want to get to an international competition and represent my country. It’s my last year as a junior, when I reach 18 it all gets a lot harder,” Libby explained.
Libby thanked parents Angie and Simon Munday for their unstinting encouragement and the hours they had put in to support her. They also have a son Connor (20).
She also thanked the Academy for its support, particularly Head of Year 11 Ryan Watson for being flexible during GCSEs. She does not have to look far for inspiration at the school. Head of PE Amy Pharaoh, who has taught Libby for three years, is a former Commonwealth and world champion in bowls and captained the England team at the World Bowls Championships on Australia’s Gold Coast last year.
Amy said: “We are just so incredibly proud of Libby. She is a great sportswoman, not only a fantastic swimmer. I know the level of dedication she has had to show, though I’ve not been training at those times in the morning!
“Things will be happening in her friendship groups that she may feel she is missing out on and to keep that level of motivation can be difficult. But, doing as well as she’s doing, makes it all worthwhile.
“She is a great inspiration for all young children who may be just starting out at a Lincs Inspire pool in North East Lincolnshire. The sport is so accessible.” Principal Nigel Whittle congratulated Libby on her success. “To swim at the Olympic trials is a wonderful achievement and a huge credit to Libby and her supportive family,” Mr Whittle said.
“We are proud to have Libby as a member of our sixth form and support her where we can. We are also excited about what the future may hold and wish Libby all the best.”