Last week Chloe Stennett headed up to the Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow for the 2019 British Championships.
Chloe had a phenomenal week from her first to last race.
Starting off with the 800m Freestyle, Chloe posted a time 7 seconds quicker than her entry!! This moved her up from being ranked 28th in the country to 17th after dominating her heat and winning by a significant margin.
Two days of training followed before it was time to one agin race, this time in the 400m Freestyle. Chloe once again went in to the event ranked 36th but after another tremendous heat swim in which she posted another PB, and again won her heat, Chloe moved up to 16th in the rankings qualifying her for the Transition Final in the evening. It was Chloe's first ever British Championships, first ever British Championship final and it was a Transition Final, but Chloe kept her cool, took in the big event atmosphere and managed place 6th in the final after qualifying in 8th position.
For each event (except the 800m and 1500m Freestyle which were Heat Declared Winner (HDW), there was an:
Open Final - The fastest 8 swimmers in Britain, any age.
Transition Final - The next fastest 8 swimmers in Britain, aged 23 and under.
Junior Final - The next fastest 8 swimmers in Britain, aged 17 and under.
On to the final day of competition and the 1500m Freestyle. After a brilliant week of racing confidence was high but the 1500 is a tactical race and it was imperative that Chloe kept her thoughts clear and was able to race a sensible race. But there was never any doubt, Chloe took the race out with great control and delivered another astonishing swim finishing with a massive 11 second PB once agin storming up the British rankings from 24th to 14th.
We could not be prouder of Chloe's achievements this week as she starts to make her mark on senior rankings at the age of only 16. We can't wait to see what the future holds for her in the next couple of years. She has been a role model to all and deserves every bit of success.
Special mention as well to Amber Downham who was one of very very few 14 year olds that qualified for British Championships, although we decided this year that her development was better served by competing full weekends of racing closer to home. Watch out next year though as she will no doubt be tearing it up in London.
And finally, thank you to Loughborough University for the support they gave Chloe and myself during the week.
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