Sophie Taylor Leads Leeds Charge at British Championships

Ath­letes per­formed beyond expec­ta­tions in our best British Cham­pi­onships for many years.

Sophie Tay­lor awaits con­fir­ma­tion of her place on England’s team for the Glas­gow 2014 Com­mon­wealth Games after she achieved two con­sid­er­a­tion times at the British Cham­pi­onships. On her way to the 50m, 100m and 200m breast­stroke tre­ble, she broke her own British 100m breast­stroke record, the Eng­lish 200m breast­stroke record and the British 18 years age group 50m breast­stroke record.

Head coach Richard Deni­gan was delight­ed by her per­for­mances: ​“The 50m, 100m, 200m breast­stroke tre­ble hadn’t been done for sev­en years. We are all extreme­ly proud of her.”

Also excelling in the breast­stroke events was 13 year old Lay­la Black, who broke her age group’s British 200m breast­stroke record and qual­i­fied for the senior final in this event; a ​“very high lev­el” per­for­mance which made her the youngest final­ist in the whole competition.

What’s more, Geor­gia Coates, Amelia Clynes and Mag­dale­na Cygan have all received con­fir­ma­tion that they will rep­re­sent Great Britain at the Euro­pean Junior Cham­pi­onships in Hol­land in July.

Deni­gan was very proud of his junior team: ​“Leeds have the largest rep­re­sen­ta­tion of any club for this British team and it proves that Leeds City Coun­cil Swim­ming Pro­gramme, from lessons to the elite, is work­ing very well.”