Success at World School Swim Championships

The inaugural World School Swim Championships took place at the London Aquatics Centre last weekend (21^st & 22^nd May) as hundreds of young swimmers made their long-awaited return to large-scale school sports events.

Schools from across the UK and Dubai travelled to the London 2012 Olympic pool to test themselves on the world stage in front of family, friends and fellow student athletes. The competition took place over two days with U11 – U17 students eligible to take part.

Former Olympic swimmer Ross Davenport was on hand ahead of the event to provide some of the schools with a masterclass, giving the students the chance to find out what it takes to make it in the pool and pose for pictures with Davenport’s Commonwealth Games gold medals.

Speaking before the event Davenport said: “It is an honour to be back at the scene of one of my proudest moments in swimming, representing Team GB on home soil at the Olympic Games in 2012. It is an incredible opportunity for these young student athletes to compete at these facilities against other schools from across the globe.

“Events like this are so important to young people both in the pool and outside of it, where they travel as a team, sample the full international tournament experience and build character.”

Day one was all about the short course races, with some excellent performances across the age groups in the 25m pool. With heats coming thick and fast throughout the day there was an electric atmosphere inside the London Aquatics Centre as spectators and teammates roared the swimmers on.

An exciting addition to the event was the skins races and pairs relays – where students were given the chance to try something a little different from conventional swimming meets – with competing athletes welcomed onto poolside by a great reception from the London crowd.

On day two the heat was turned up a little more as athletes began to focus on the team prizes up for grabs at the end of the weekend. With every single placing counting towards each school’s overall age group points totals there was a real sense of students giving a little bit more to do their bit for their school.

The weekend came to a conclusion with the 4x50m freestyle relays, rounding off a great two days of swimming with some high-quality and exciting action.

Andrew Cook, of the WSG Event Series Organising Committee, was delighted to see the inaugural World School Swim Championships take place safely and in a positive environment following two frustrating years of postponements.

“We are all so pleased to see so many athletes competing with smiles on their faces after a couple of really difficult years for young people. The event was due to make its debut back in 2020 but the pandemic forced us to rearrange more than once – it’s brilliant to finally see it come to life.

“We hope the event has provided a stage for some of the world’s most talented young swimmers to come together, improve as athletes and meet people from across the globe in one of the world’s most iconic swimming venues.”

A huge thank you to all schools, teachers, officials and volunteers who made the first ever World School Swim Championships possible – without you these events simply would not be the same.

World School Swimming Championships 2022 Roll of Honour

U11

U13

U15

U17

The full list of event results from the World School Swim Championships can be viewed by clicking here.

To view the photo galleries from the event, please click here.