Leeds swim trio receive Euro selection honour

The club learnt this time last week that star youngster Georgia Coates had been selected to represent Team GB at this summer’s Rio Olympic Games. And now Amelia Clynes, pictured above, Layla Black and Ciara Schlosshan have all earned call-ups to July’s Junior Europeans after achieving the necessary qualifying times at the recent British Championships.

June’s outing will be Clynes’ third appearance for her country and Black’s second. Schlosshan, meanwhile, is heading for her international debut.

All three divers excelled at the recent British Championships where the club scooped an Olympic selection plus nine European Junior qualifying times, three British junior records, two bronze senior medals, five senior finalists, six junior golds, one junior silver and three junior bronze. Leah Crisp, Sophie Hobbah, Danny Hall, Myles Stirk, Kiana Campbell Grady and Magdalena Cygan were the other Leeds swimmers to shine.

Mirroring the club’s success, the City of Leeds Synchronised Swimming Club returned from their National Championships in Nottingham with a hat-trick of medals, highlighting their place as one of the country’s elite synchro squads. The squad took bronze place for the Technical Team swim, wowing the judge with their skilled and fast-paced routine to Uptown Funk (Bruno Mars). Colton’s Rebecca Richardson, 17, was an individual medallist, taking silver in figures and then going on to take bronze for her solo routine. Richardson trains with the GB squad and represented her country at last year’s European Games. Head coach Sarah Speers: “The girls and coaches have put so much time and dedication into working for this competition. I am thrilled to see their success and am sure it will continue for the rest of 2016.”