Year 7 pupil excels at Lithuanian Short Course Swimming Champs

We are very proud to share the success of Year 7 pupil Gerda who recently travelled to Lithuania to compete in the Lithuanian Short Course Swimming Championships 2014.

Although Gerda only began swimming in May 2011, she quickly showed a lot of potential. In March 2013 she took part in her first competition at the City of Birmingham Open Meet where she impressed with her backstroke. She was soon offered a spot on the City of Birmingham Swimming Squad and is now the fastest swimmer in her age group. Based on her excellent qualifying times, the Lithuanian Federation invited Gerda to compete in nine events at the Short Course Championships, representing the City of Birmingham Squad. Gerda achieved a personal best in most races and swam against Lithuanian Olympic swimmers including Ruta Meilutyte, Giedrius Titenis and Mindaugas Sadauskas.

“There were so many people there, including Olympic champions, I got to meet Ruta Meilutyte who swam the 100m breaststroke,” said Gerda “I was a bit nervous at first, the starting signals were different and I wasn’t used to them but it was still a lot of fun. My whole family came to watch me, but I wasn’t nervous about that, I’m getting used to a lot of people watching me swim.”

Competing at this level requires a tremendous amount of effort, hard work and dedication. But it has its perks too as Gerda told us, “I especially liked staying in an ESPA hotel – I had a massage after every competition!”

We would like to congratulate Gerda on her success and wish her all the best as she continues her swimming career.