Donovan lands medals as fellow members reach finals

Islington’s Anaconda Swimming Club picked up three medals at the London Youth Championships at the Aquatics Centre.

An enlarged squad of 12 took part in the event, compared to only three in 2016, and five of them reached a combined total of 10 finals.

And Tommy Donovan, 16 led the way with two gold medals and a silver, winning his 50m breaststroke heat in 30.95 seconds and then taking the final in 30.50, a Middlesex junior record and fifth best in the British rankings.

Donovan clocked 1.08.85 in his 100m breaststroke heat, then won the final in 1.08.32 and added silver in the 200m in 2.28.30, after clocking 2.30.00 in his heat.

Alice Hockey, 15, was sixth in her 50m breaststroke final in 36.46, having qualified in 35.89, and took eighth in the 100m in 1.23.30, after a heat time of 1.22.71.

Hockey also finished eighth in the 200m breaststroke in 3.03.41, after a heat time of 3.02.62.

Jess Neale, 16, clocked 31.28 in her 50m butterfly heat and finished ninth in the final in 31.66, while also competing in the 100m butterfly, following a heat time of 1.11.49 with a final time of 1.12.11 for eighth.

Ali Woolley, 15, managed 29.16 in the 50m butterfly heats and 29.24 in the final for ninth place, while Anatoly Bugakov, 24, clocked 26.67 in the heats of the same discipline and 27.02 in the final for 10th.

Sydney Celul, Esme Llewellyn-Smith, Noah Boydell, Luke Dudley, Fred Goudie, Alex Tegene and Alan Smeets also took part and head coach Wayne Lock said: “After having such a strong County Championships only a month ago I wasn’t expecting a big improvement in personal bests.

“However I am pleased with the overall results and especially pleased for Tommy Donovan who medalled in the three breaststroke events.”

n Tommy Donovan won two gold (50m, 100m breaststroke) and two bronze (200m breaststroke, 50m butterfly) at the Middlesex ASA Championships.

And the teenager also became the first Anaconda swimmer to achieve a qualifying time for the British Championships when competing in a 50m breaststroke against some of the best in the country, including Olympic champion and world record holder Adam Peaty in Sheffield.