Swimmers from university institutions across the country descended on the city of Sheffield for the 2023 British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Short Course Swimming Championships. The University of Nottingham was strongly represented at the three day event that took place from the 17th to the 19th November, with a team of 23 swimmers taking to the pool for the #GreenandGold. Our athletes entered 68 events across the weekend which resulted in a host of success.
Individually, Nottingham athletes raced to numerous new personal best times with University of Nottingham Swimming Club members reaching 19 finals. This number is the highest figure ever achieved by the club at the BUCS Short Course Championships, representing a magnificent feat. Within these 19 high-stakes races, we were delighted to see almost a third of these finals result in podium moments as 6 medals were won by Nottingham swimmers. These medals were split between Owen Say and Aliya Bacakoglu, who both took home a hat-trick of top-three finishes.
Owen Say delivered the moment of the weekend by finishing ahead of all competition in the 50m Freestyle, adding another BUCS gold medal to his ever growing collection. Owen's personal haul also now contains a 100m Freestyle silver and a 400m Freestyle bronze, with Say taking to every step of the podium across the 2023 Short Course weekend. Aliya Bacakoglu also took three trips to the podium, claiming deserved bronze medals in the 200m Individual Medley, 50m Freestyle, and 100m Butterfly.
These performances, along with those of their team mates, propelled the University of Nottingham to a top-ten finish in the overall team standings. This represents a huge achievement for the University of Nottingham Swimming Club who earned more BUCS points at the event than ever before. Reflecting on the club's success at the meeting, women's captain Francesca Whiting told us that "I’m really proud of how everyone stepped up at the weekend, showing strength individually and determination as a team against some of the best swimmers in world swimming."
The next challenge for the club is Winter Nationals on the 14th December, before BUCS Long Course Championships in late February. We would like to congratulate the club and our swimmers on their achievements, and look forward to more success in the future. You can keep up to date with our Swimming club by following them on social media here.
You can find out more about our Performance Sport programme here, as well as finding out more about sport scholarships here.
Posted on Wednesday 29th November 2023