Swim duo win national medals

Kirsty Stewart and Tristan Curtis were elated after clinching three medals, including two golds, between them at the British Learning Disability Swimming Championships last weekend.

Competitors from all over the UK take part in the prestigious championships at at the 10-lane Ponds Forge International Pool in Sheffield, but this year all swimmers were limited to enter just three events by the organisers.

Stewart was determined to bring home a medal and she wasn’t far away in her first event, the 100m breaststroke. Despite swimming a season’s best time, she finished fifth. Stewart also clocked a season’s best in the 50m breaststroke, but this time she touched home first. She later came fifth again in the 100m freestyle.

Curtis was taking part in his second major national swimming event and was also hoping for medal success. That hope sprang eternal when he came third in the 200m freestyle.

Curtis gained fifth place in the 50m freestyle, losing out to the fourth-placed swimmer by just 1/100th of a second. He later gained a magnificent gold medal in the 100m freestyle, beating the runner-up by just 1/100th of a second. Curtis clocked personal best times in all three swims.

Stewart will take part in swimming at the Special Olympics National Summer Games, a four-yearly event to be held in Bath during August. It will be the largest multi-sport event in the country this year with more than 1,500 competitors taking part across 12 sports.