Leamington Spa's Annabel Crees sets new club records at British Swimming Championships in Sheffield

The swimmers achieved difficult qualification times to compete at the Championships: Annabel Crees (15) for the 100m and 200m backstroke, Joshua Golsby-Taylor (18) for the 50m backstroke and Teia Hendley (15) for the 50m and 100m breaststroke.

There was fierce competition, with times from the Championships being used for selection for many senior and junior international competitions, including the World Championships later in the year.

Annabel Crees was in particularly impressive form, often racing against swimmers considerably older than herself. She qualified for the Priority Paris finals (for swimmers aged 23 and under) for both her events.

Firstly, in the 100m backstroke, a place in the final was sealed with a personal best swim in the heat; she stepped up and improved her time again in the evening’s final, beating her own club record in the process.

Later in the week, another personal best swim in the 200m backstroke heat took her into the Priority Paris final as the fastest qualifier. The atmosphere was intense going into the final but she kept her composure, again swimming another massive personal best to finish second to a university swimmer six years her senior.

Her swim not only smashed the Warwickshire County record which has stood since 2012 but also puts her first in Great Britain for her age. It also places her 93rd in the world rankings for the fastest 200m backstroke this season – for females of all ages. Annabel is the youngest of 17 British swimmers in the world top 100.

Graham Nash LSASC’s head coach said: “It was great to have swimmers competing against the best in Britain at such a high-profile event, they’re a credit to themselves and the club. I am particularly impressed with Annabel’s performances – the times she swam were exceptional but, as a coach, it was great to see her step up both times from heat to final and keep her nerve under such pressure. She absolutely delivered when it mattered.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​