Congratulations to the DSGB team on your success at the European championships, and especially to Conor (a member of the Evans Swim Team) you guys did our country proud! See you on poolside Conor for some more hard laps...
Great Britain & Northern Ireland were named the top team at the seventh European Down Syndrome Championships.
Down Syndrome Great Britain took a team of 33 swimmers to Padova to compete at last months Championships with 13 nations taking part at the event in Northern Italy.
Teams from the USA, South Africa and Brazil joined ten European nations to compete for medals in the 50m pool at the Impianti Sportivi Padovanuoto complex.
The GB team worked hard to repeat their top team success from 2019 and 2017 where they achieved their goal based on points won throughout the competition.
They faced stiff competition from both hosts Italy and Portugal but pulled through thanks to the superb efforts of everyone involved to come home with an impressive haul of 55 European medals and numerous world records.
The final standings saw the British team top the final points table by more than 200 points with a total of 742 from the four-day event.
They won 16 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze medals to go clear of Italy (508) and Portugal (460) in the overall points table.
‘A tribute to the sport’
Following the team’s success, their head Coach Keith Hall (Richmond Dales) said:
“This was an outstanding success for the GB Team. The progress each athlete has made, the resilience they have shown, the commitment, maturity and dedication are a tribute to DSS-GB and the sport."
“The whole swimming community should be proud that these young athletes are representing their country in the sport in such a professional manner, giving everything every time they compete.
“Numerous European and World records were broken during the week and the team came home full of pride and with more international experience.
“They are now looking to progress and improve, hoping to be selected to represent GB at the World Championships in Antalya, Turkey in March 2024.
“Thanks as always go to the team behind the team that go above and beyond to support these athletes to be able to perform at their best.”
As well as focusing on March’s World Championships, a number of the British swimmers are also preparing for this year’s British Down Syndrome Swimming Championships.
This is an abridged version of the article was originally published on October 4th 2023 on the Swim England Website, the full version can be read here
Evans Swim School is committed to making swimming accessible for all. We have several 1:2:1 lessons we offer to swimmers with SEND. In some instances, we can accommodate SEND swimmers in smaller classes. As always, the demand for swimming lessons is very high and we often utilise the pool time during our Summer Swim Intensives to offer more lessons for swimmers with SEND. Please email jevansswimschool@hotmail.com for further information.
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