Salisbury Swimmers Compete at British and International level

Qualifying and competing in the same competition as Adam Peaty and Jazz Carling would seem like every swimmer’s dream, but that is exactly what 15 year old Onioluwa Taiwo (Oni to her friends) managed to do last week.  After much hard work during the year Oni achieved the qualification time that allowed her to compete at the British Championships 2017.   Swimming in the 50 meter Freestyle race, Oni swam an amazing race and achieved a time of 27.05 seconds.  This places Oni as the 4^th fastest British swimmer at her age in the 50 meter freestyle event.

Following on from Oni’s success, Harry Wellington took up the mantle facing top class swimmers from around the world in the British Para-Swimming International competition.  Putting Salisbury on the world stage Harry competed in three races over three days coming 12^th in the world at 100 meters Freestyle with a time of 56.57 seconds, 23^rd worldwide in the 50 meters Freestyle with a time of 26.14 seconds and 19th in the 100 meter Butterfly with a time of 1.03.97 seconds.  Within the British Para-Swimming Championship (excluding the international swimmers) Harry was awarded Two Gold and one Silver Medal. 

The successes of Oni and Harry do not come easy and along with many other Salisbury Stingray swimmers they train hard many hours per week in the Five Rivers and Godolphin School pools.  Having worked hard to qualify, over the next few weeks many of the club’s swimmers will be competing in the British South West Region competitions in Plymouth, Bristol and Millfield.  They will be hoping to get new PB’s and follow Oni and Harry into the British competitions.  We wish them well.