Medi Harris and Greg Butler produced the standout out swims at Ponds Forge over the weekend to be acclaimed as the top female and male swimmers at the 2022 British Universities and Colleges (BUCS) Long Course Swimming Championships.
The event - which took place between February 18th and 20th at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield - was part of the multi-sport BUCS Nationals, and it provided an early-season chance for Britain's top student swimmers to test themselves at the start of a busy year.
Medi Harris, representing Swansea University, stormed to victory in the first medal contest of the competition programme with a personal best in the Women's 50m Backstroke. Her impressive weekend however was underlined over double the distance, turning at the wall over a second clear of her rivals in the Women's 100m Backstroke final, only to streak further clear down the return length and stop the clock in a time of 59.30. Having already set a BUCS record in the heats, Harris' new lifetime best in the final also surpassed Georgia Davies previous Welsh record and places her third on the British all time list.
Another to top the podium on more than one occasion was Loughborough University's Gregory Butler, who took home a quartet of golds with wins across the 50m, 100m and 200m Men's Breaststroke events in addition to helping Loughborough teammates to 4x100m Medley Relay triumph. Butler's best result came in the 200m breaststroke event - in which he came third at last April's British Swimming Selection Trials - as he scored 855 Fina Points to top the overall Men's standings.
Fellow Loughborough swimmer Lily Booker also scored a hattrick of titles, closing out her weekend with victory alongside her teammates in the Women's 4x100m Medley Relay having already secured wins in both the 200m Individual Medley and 200m Breaststroke.
Meanwhile, Kara Hanlon of Edinburgh University repeated her 2020 feat of taking BUCS gold in both the Women's 50m and 100m Breaststroke - setting a new Scottish record in the latter - to be among the four athletes to achieve multiple individual titles across the event.
Full results from across all BUCS National races are available HERE, with races available to watch back on the BUCS YouTube Channel HERE.