Duo Turn On the Style As County Champs Get Off to Thrilling Start ; City of Derby Are Top Club with an Increased Medal Haul at Home Pool

Summary

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SWADLINCOTE swimmers James Lovatt and Zichen Liu put on a super show at the opening weekend of the Derbyshire ASA Championships. Liu narrowly defeated his club-mate, the county shortcourse record holder, in a thrilling 100m backstroke event at Derby's Queen's Leisure Centre. The 18-year-old came back over the final 25 metres to claim victory in 56.86 seconds, 0.34secs ahead of Lovatt. However, Lovatt (20) who trains and studies at Loughborough University, turned the tables in the 100m freestyle, which he won in 52.10. Liu found himself pushed down to fourth place overall by City of Derby pair Kane Haggett (17) and Connor Smith (14), who put in an exceptional perfor mance. However, he was able to take ample consolation by winning the 400m freestyle, the 200m individual medley and the 50m butterfly. In the wake of her major haul of silverware at last year's championships, Derby Phoenix's Evie Keane was again in excellent form. The 15-year-old showed her ability at both sprint and distance freestyle, notching overall victory in the 100m and 800m. She also claimed the 200m backstroke.

Chris Steeples, of Etwall Eagles, took the men's 100m breaststroke, while in the equivalent women's event, Molly Renshaw again demonstrated her potential, the 13-year-old emerging as overall winner. Emily Allsopp (Buxton) took the 400m individual medley, while Livvi Sefton (Long Eaton) and Sarah Vasey were victors in the 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke respectively. In the younger age groups, there was a real battle between Kevin Wallbank (Long Eaton) and Ben Goodall (Belper Marlin). They traded places in the 13- year-old boys' category, Wallbank winning the 200m and 50m butterfly and the 100m and 50m breaststroke but Goodall claiming the 200m freestyle and 400 individual medley. Ripley's Hannah Jones was in good form in the 12-years girls' events, winning the 200m freestyle, 400m individual medley, 200m butterfly and 50m butterfly. City of Derby were the most successful club, with a total of 95 medals - 36 gold, 29 silver and 30 bronze. That represented a major improvement over last year's performance when the first weekend medal count was only 70.

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Duo Turn On the Style As County Champs Get Off to Thrilling Start ; City of Derby Are Top Club with an Increased Medal Haul at Home Pool

This was in large part due to the performance of the younger competitors, currently moving up through...

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