RTW Monson wows at English Winter Nationals

RTW Monson took a team of 14 swimmers to compete at the English Winter National Championships earlier this month at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge Centre. The four-day competition saw the athletes compete in various events and multi-strokes. The para swimmers were also competing at this competition, where a lot of the athletes were racing for the first time since the Paris Paralympic Games.

The first day got off to a great start. 18 year-old Fern Sneddon was first up, swimming the 400MC Freestyle and securing her place in the evening finals. 15 year-old Amalie Smith and 16 year-old Emilia Oliver stormed their heats, both setting personal best times and joining Fern in the final’s lineup. Hayden Annan, 17, swam a solid race in the 400 Freestyle, securing his place in the evening’s finals.

Denys Mialkovskyi, 17, qualified through to the 200m Backstroke final and Aran Bissett, 16, joined his teammates in the evening finals session for the 100m Individual Medley final.

The first final session saw new personal best times set by Amalie Smith and Aran Bissett, both winning silver medals in the Junior Category, and Denys Mialkovskyi took home the bronze medal.

After a fantastic first day, the swimmers continued to race hard and post impressive personal best times, securing multiple finals for the rest of the week. Stand out performances must go to Amalie Smith, who set a new Junior British record in the 100m Individual Medley. Amalie also won gold in the 400m Individual Medley for the Open and Junior category, and silver in the 200m Individual Medley, where she faced up against much older swimmers.

Monson’s Callie Ann Warrington was back in the pool, following her silver medal win in Paris at the Paralympics in the summer. Callie Ann was on fine form, taking home three gold medals for the 50 and 100m MC Freestyle and the 100m MC Butterfly. In the 50m Freestyle MC, Callie Ann set a new British record, breaking her own previous record.

By the end of the week, the team of 14 swimmers had achieved 25 finals, won eight medals and set both a Junior British record and a British Para record. Head coach, Karen Bradbury said, ‘What a fantastic week for the RTW Monson team. This is such a positive start to the season and I am excited to see what 2025 brings.’