EVESHAM swimmer Chloe Golding has risen to seventh place in the European rankings for her age group in the 200m backstroke thanks to a superb series of performances at the British Summer Championships.
It was a best ever display from 200m backstroke silver medallist Golding as she competed in backstroke across three distances – 100m, 200m and 50m – at this prestigious event at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.
To be invited to these premier championships, swimmers had to be ranked in the top 24 in the UK. Those below this level ranked 25-50 and bringing in a slightly lower age level starting at 12 take part in their own English, Welsh or Scottish Home Nations Championships.
Together with nine of her Ellesmere College Titans team-mates, Golding, who still trains back at Evesham SC in the holidays, competed in the three backstroke events.
First up for Golding was the 100m backstroke in which she recorded 1:03.38 in the heats to secure her place in the final as sixth seed.
In the finals Golding went nearly a second faster to a new personal best of 1:02.62 as she finished seventh.
Although Golding has since celebrated her 17th birthday, she was competing in the 17/18 age division due to her age at the end of the year, but because at the time she was still aged 16 her time actually pushed her up to 11th in the UK all-time list and to 15th in the European rankings.
Golding’s next event was the 200m backstroke and, with a time of 2:14.45 in the heats, she qualified easily for the finals as third seed.
Racing to a new personal best and reflecting her great training times recently, she secured the silver medal with 2:12.45.
This was the seventh fastest 200m backstroke time in the UK for a 16-year-old of all time and she climbs to seventh in the European rankings.
Golding’s forte is the longer distance backstroke events so, although she qualified for the 50m backstroke sprint and indeed set a personal best time of 30.12, it was not quite enough to get into the finals and a well deserved two weeks off marking the end of the season beckoned.
Following the British Summer Championships, Golding has since learnt of her invitation (extended to the top ten (all ages) in Great Britain) to the specialised three-day Backstroke Camp at the English Institute of Sport in Bath during September.
On Golding’s performances, Ellesmere Titans head coach Alan Bircher said: “I was really impressed with Chloe Golding at these championships.
“She had a hard introduction to international swimming last season and proved her class with a time of 2:12.45 as she won silver in the 200m backstroke.”
When she was interviewed afterwards, Golding stated she was overjoyed with her three personal best times, especially her 200m backstroke time.
