West Norfolk swimmers in the medals

West Norfolk Swimming Club made a remarkable impression at Swim England’s East Region regionals, held across three weekends from March to May.A talented squad of 37 swimmers proudly represented the club in events hosted at Sportspark UEA Norwich and Inspire Luton Sports Village, delivering strong performances and personal bests across multiple disciplines.In the 50m butterfly, Valeria Soldatihhina, Olivia Bradford, Millie Harris, Alex Pattison, and Jamie Wilson all reached their respective age-group finals.Bradford captured gold with a personal best of 28.85 in the 13-year category, while Soldatihhina secured silver with 32.07.Pattison and Wilson finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in a fiercely competitive final.In the 100m butterfly, Soldatihhina and Bradford both claimed silver in their age groups, with Elizabeth Litvinenko adding a bronze to the club’s medal tally.In the 200m butterfly, Soldatihhina and Litvinenko continued to impress, winning gold and silver respectively, while Sam Liddell placed fifth. Soldatihhina further displayed her versatility in the backstroke events, winning silver in the 50m and 100m backstroke, and reaching the final in the 200m, where she was placed eighth. Tobias Oglesby topped the podium in the 50m backstroke for the 17+ category, bringing home a gold.The 50m breaststroke featured a tight finish in the 16 years category, with Josh Jones and Thomas Baxter placing seventh and eighth. In the 17+ final, Sarah O’Brien earned a solid sixth-place finish.The 100m breaststroke saw Jones and Baxter improve their times, finishing fifth and seventh, while Finlay Ryan secured bronze in the 17+ category with a faster time than in his heats. In the 200m breaststroke, O’Brien was placed eighth in the 17+ category, Pattison finished sixth in the 15 years final, improving his previous time, and Jones clinched another bronze with a three-second personal best.In the freestyle events, Soldatihhina participated in the 50m, 100m, 200m, and 400m races and was placed fourth in the 50m, seventh in the 100m, and fourth again in both the 200m and 400m distances. Polly Anderson achieved eighth in the 50m freestyle final in the 13-year category, improving on her heat time.Bradford finished fourth in the 50m and fifth in the 100m freestyle finals in the 14-year category. Harris earned silver in the 17+ 50m freestyle with an impressive 26.88 seconds, improving on her heat time of 27.01, and placed fifth in the 100m final.Oglesby took silver in the 50m freestyle in the 17+ category with a time of 24.19 seconds and placed fourth in the 100m final with 54.25 seconds.Wilson added to the club’s successes with a sixth-place finish in the 200m freestyle final.Soldatihhina rounded off her campaign with silver medals in both the 200m and 400m individual medley events, underlining her consistency and determination. The boys’ 400m medley relay team—Thomas Baxter, Josh Jones, Jamie Wilson, and Alex Pattison—finished seventh.While not all swimmers reached the finals, strong performances came from Martha More, Ruby Baxter and Milly Johnson in their heats, showing promising development and resilience in competitive fields.Congratulations to all swimmers who took part over the three intensive weekends of the 2025 regionals.The club extends its gratitude to sponsor Supercrete Groundworks for supplying the team kit and to the coaches and team managers for their unwavering support.