First Ever British Down Syndrome Swimming Championships 2022 Take Place in Crawley.

This weekend, the K2 pool in Crawley which is the only 50 metre pool in Sussex, held the first ever British Down Syndrome Swimming Championships.

Currently, The Down Syndrome International Swimming Organisations has pushed the sport forward to get to the point where they have held a World Championships every year since 2002. From October 15th to October 23rd 2022, the 10th World Down Syndrome Swimming and Artistic Championships took place. There were 23 countries taking part and all together there was an amazing 163 swimmers and 25 artistic swimmers. In terms of teams, Great Britain had the largest team with 30 competitors. So, the excitement was high for the British Down Syndrome Championships where 135 swimmers would be competing.

In particular at the worlds, Marks Evens and Amalia Freeland soared to success for Great Britain. With so much anticipation, let’s move on to see how the weekend turned out.

This weekend, there will be two categories competing: T21 and mosaic which often race in the same heats.

Day one:

The first event was a long one, the mixed 1500m freestyle. This saw competitors take on an incredible 60 lengths. When the race ended, it was Mark Evens who took the gold medal.

With heats in the men’s and women’s T21 200m backstroke races underway, it was Caroline Faithfull who became British Champion followed by Kathryn Martin and Holly Bocking. Whilst, in the men’s race, Billy Birchmore took number one on the podium with a time of 2:25.87.

Next up it was the 25m races, starting with the women’s freestyle. After the heats came to an end, both finals proved to be exciting races. Rosie Dension-Foster took gold in the women’s race and Dorian Alexander took gold in the men’s 25m race. It was certainly an amazing day for Dension-Foster who then went on to get a bronze medal in the T21 women’s 25m backstroke event.

In the T21 women’s 100m breastroke, Helen Thompson soared ahead and secured gold and, in the men’s, it was Jack Lyons who took gold with an amazing sprint finish. But it was Harvey Stonebank who really excelled, securing a new world record for the men’s mosaic category.

The 50m butterfly saw Amalia Freeland, one of the youngest competitors, sprint ahead and secure gold. In the same race, Alexandra Edwards competed in the Mosaic category in which she received a gold medal and set a new Mosaic world record. The men’s race was very quick with Zac Lacey seizing gold followed closely by Billy Birchmore. As they finished the race, Lacey and Birchmore reached over the lane rope to congratulate each other. Harvey Stonebank was also competing in that race but in the mosaic category where he secured gold – an incredibly successful day for him.

Once again, in the men’s T21 200m freestyle, it was Mark Evens who took first place on the podium. He was followed by William Roberts and Will Browning. And, another amazing win for Amalia Freeland in the 100m butterfly race as well as the 100m individual medley. Needless to say, Freeland is now a multi-British champion.

The day finished off on a high with an amazing 400m individual medley and it was William Reed who became British champion at the end of the race.

Day two:

Day two started off with the men’s and women’s mixed 800m freestyle race which saw Caroline Faithfull take the gold medal for the women’s race and Mark Evens secure gold for the men’s.

It was then onto the 200m butterfly races where Zac Lacey had an incredible race finishing with a time of 3:09.83 – just short of his world record.

The quickfire races of the 25m butterfly then began. In the women’s race Scarlett Jones shot ahead absolutely smashing the race and securing the gold medal. The men’s race was very similar, incredibly quick and exciting. Alexander Warman won gold in the mosaic category and in the T21 category it was 16-year-old Gabriel Kenchington who won.

Once again, it was Amalia Freeland who just hit the wall before Caroline Faithfull taking another gold medal in the women’s 100m backstroke. But it was Ellen Stephenson, in the mosaic category who shot ahead of everyone and claimed another gold. The men’s race saw Billy Birchmore lead the way securing gold and a phenomenal time of 1:22.98 after showing great skill on all of his turns. It was Harvey Stonebank who came second in the race and secured a gold in the mosaic category.

The final event of the day was the women’s 100m freestyle which saw some amazing wins. Ellen Stephenson secured gold in the mosaic category with an incredible time of 1:24.49 – just outside of her world record time by less than a second. It was then Helen Thompson who touched in 1st for the T21 category, followed by Amalia Freeland in silver and Caroline Faithfull in bronze.

With an amazing history in the Down Syndrome Worlds, it was no surprise that that weekend was so incredible for the British competitors. It saw new, young swimmers rise to podium level as well as swimmers with previous world records fight to keep them.

Currently, people with Down Syndrome are only able to compete in the Paralympics in category S14. This category includes people with intellectual impairments. Often, this is a very competitive category with competitors being physically stronger than those with Down Syndrome which puts them at a disadvantage. However, many people are hoping that these Championships will build the path to competing in the Paralympics.

Neil Lacey who is the Chair of Down Syndrome Swimming GB, said: "We hope this is the showcase of British swimming, for Down Syndrome's swimmers." He then went on to add, "We hope that the event will show that the category which they are currently in, is probably not where they should be. We would like to see them in a fairer class which covers their physical disability as well."

This weekend has certainly showcased the talent that these Para swimmers have and hopefully they will be able to go on an showcase this in a more fairer category in the Paralympics.