Yorkshire swimmers benefiting from championship return
AS MUCH as the British Championships in Sheffield this week have been about Adam Peaty rediscovering his worldbeating form, it has also been a chance for the entire swimming community to re-emerge after Covid.
Whether that be the 1,500 or so swimmers diving back into competition, or Ponds Forge welcoming competitors back after being mothballed 18 months ago, this meet has been one of celebration.
Indeed, this six-day, 18-session gala is the first British Championship for three years and the first in Sheffield for five years.
Ponds Forge – built for the 1991 World Student Games and host to these great championships on 13 previous occasions – was nearly shut for good in August 2020 when the Covid pandemic forced the operating body Sheffield City Trust to keep the doors closed after lockdown. It re-opened last year to the relief of the swimming community both recreationally and professionally, but it was not without its losses.
Some members of the City of Sheffield Swimming Club – a serial provider of British Olympic swimmers down the years – had to look elsewhere to train, including their long-time coach Russ Barber who is now working with Kingston-upon-Hull.
Those that came back to the club and the sport have enjoyed a good meet in their home pool so far, but as one of their swimmers, Amber Keegan, acknowledges, it has not been an easy time.
“Covid was really hard for our club, there was only a few swimmers who were given the opportunity to train across the country,” says Keegan, 25, who in her eighth year with City of Sheffield is one of the club’s longest-serving members.
“Sheffield is a prime example, there were a lot of swimmers that just didn’t come out the other side of Covid, which is sad to see for the sport in general. It was difficult for swimmers who were forced out of the pool to match their competitors’ training schedules, I know for a fact that was the last straw for some people.
“If you look at the programme for this week there’s quite a large gap in dates-of-birth from 1999 to 2001. Hopefully we’re through the other side of that now and it’s nice to have a lot of people at a meet again.”
So why did Keegan come back? “Unfinished business,” she says moments after her 200m butterfly heat, one of five races across four distances she is contesting this week.
“I was quite unlucky with injury and then just as I got healthy the British Champs’ got called off because of Covid and that was another two years.
“I knew I had a lot more in the tank and I didn’t want to leave swimming on a bad note. And this is so good for the sport to have so many competitors, especially the junior swimmers who have missed out over the last few years to now have that opportunity to go out and race.”
One of those juniors is Isabelle Goodwin, 17, from her home town City of Leeds Swimming Club based at the John Charles Aquatics Centre.
The last time she swam in a British championships it was as a junior three years ago trying to get into junior events.
After as many as seven major national meets missed due to Covid she is in Sheffield trying to qualify for senior events like the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this summer.
“This is my first big one in three years,” says the sixth-form pupil who set a personal best in reaching Thursday night’s 200m butterfly final.
“Now I’m here trying to get into senior championships and as close to the medals as I can.
“It’s so great to be back, such a good environment, getting to see people you haven’t seen for years.”