Sam Downie strikes gold at British Swimming Championships

The Musselburgh swimmer had an excellent week at the British Swimming Championships, held at the London Aquatics Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The meet, which took place over six days, plays a crucial role in the selection of both Paralympic and Olympic swim teams ahead of the international competition in Paris this summer.

Downie was crowned British champion in the mixed classification 400m freestyle with a time of 4m48.00s. He also qualified for the finals in the 100m backstroke and the 100m freestyle, finishing seventh and eighth respectively.

The Paris consideration time was always going to be a tall order for the East Lothian Swim Team (ELST) athlete, but he dropped well over five seconds from his heat time to win the event.

He told Scottish Swimming: “At the end of last year, I was out for about a month through illness.

“But it’s been a solid year since January so all that work is starting to show, but there’s a lot more work to be done going into the summer.”

Sam Downie was crowned British champion after an impressive showing in London

Also representing ELST was Stefan Krawiec, who enjoyed a strong week, swimming personal bests (PBs) to finish fourth in the 100m freestyle junior final and seventh in the 200m freestyle junior final.

The Tranent swimmer also competed in the 100m and 200m butterfly, while his time in the 100m freestyle was under the nomination time for the European Junior Championships. However, the team has yet be confirmed in what is an extremely competitive field.

He told Scottish Swimming: “I got the junior qualification standard and I’m happy with the evening swim. I got my processes right, but I just wanted a bit more from that, but that will come over time.

“I’ve been doing more freestyle events lately and they seem to be coming together nicely, I’m enjoying racing them.”

His younger sister Zara Krawiec competed in the 200m and 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley, while Calum Peebles (Tranent) was in the 200m backstroke.

Jamie Ward, ELST head coach, was proud of all four swimmers.

He said: “The British Championships are the highest level of meet for any swimmer to achieve in this country and just to qualify is a fantastic achievement.

“For our programme to have four swimmers attend is a great honour and it is a testament to the hard work, dedication and sacrifice of them and their families.

“The experiences gained will be invaluable for our athletes and hopefully they will have learned a lot rubbing shoulders with the best of British swimming.”

Meanwhile, Luke Hornsey, representing University of Edinburgh, took part in the ‘A’ final of the 400m freestyle. The Musselburgh swimmer produced another PB to finish sixth overall in 3m53.30s and secured a nomination time for the European Junior Championships.

He told Scottish Swimming: “I’m really delighted with that as a first swim. Coming into British, into London and my first race in such a big environment and dropping my best time this morning; then coming back for the final, racing alongside some great athletes and dropping my PB further – and to top it all getting a Euro Junior consideration time, it’s unreal.”

Former ELST athlete Stephen Clegg, representing University of Edinburgh, confirmed a third consecutive Paralympics GB selection.

His time of 1m00.83s was good enough in the mixed classification 100m backstroke event, while he recorded a time of 54.03s in the mixed classification 100m freestyle final. He secured a third Paralympics qualifying standard after finishing first in 57.66s in the mixed classification 100m butterfly.