Stirling swimmers make history at British Uni champs

Hosted at Pond’s Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield, the BUCS Long Course Championships bring together the best student athletes from across the country, including Olympic and Paralympic medallists, for three days of world-class competition.

With Stirling’s women’s team, including Olympians Keanna MacInnes, Katie Shanahan and Angharad Evans, taking top spot and the men’s team claiming bronze, the Stirling squad finished second overall in another impressive meet.

Individually, there were 15 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze medal finishes with Evans (50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke) and Abby Kane (S13 MC 100m backstroke, MC 50m and 100m freestyle) leading the way with a hat-trick of titles each.

Angharad Evans won gold in all three breaststroke events (image credit: British Universities and Colleges Sport / BUCS)

There were also gold-winning performances from MacInnes (50m and 200m butterfly), Shanahan (200m and 400m individual medley), Lucy Grieve (100m butterfly), Holly McGill (200m backstroke), Evie Davis (100m freestyle), Michaella Glenister (800m freestyle) and Sam Downie (S8 MC 100m backstroke).

The team rounded off the haul with six relay medals including gold in the women’s 4x100m medley.

Commenting on the success, University of Stirling Head of Performance Sport, David Bond, said: “It was a brilliant performance across the board and especially pleasing to see the women’s team take their first ever long course title.

“The performance swim programme continues to go from strength to strength and that is testament to the culture created by the coaching staff and the commitment and efforts of the athletes to build a winning environment.

“Our aim is to offer student athletes the best opportunities to balance elite competition and training with their studies and the swimmers’ experience in Sheffield is a great example of high performance student sport at its best.”

Read more about the University of Stirling high performance swimming programme.