Congratulations to Cheadle Hulme High School student Sophie, who has qualified for the Olympic swimming trials, which are planned to take place at the London Aquatics Centre in April.
Due to excellent qualifying times at the Swim England National Championships and the English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA), Sophie, who trains with Stockport Metro, is now set to try out for this year’s Olympic Games in the 400m, 800m and 100m Freestyle and 400m Individual Medley categories.
She has been swimming since she was four years old and has been competing in the Cheshire County Championships since the age of ten, where she is consistently ranked first in her age group. She won silver in the 1500m freestyle at her first Swim England National Championships in 2019 and also took two silver medals at ESSA just before lockdown last March.
Sophie’s reaction to the first wave of Covid-19 restrictions are indicative of her incredible commitment and dedication to her sport, and instead of being defeated by the closure of training facilities, she started open water swimming at Sale Water Park.
Sophie, who is in Year 9, says:
“I’ve always enjoyed swimming and I love competing. I’d set myself a challenge of making it to the Olympic trials this year so when I found out I’d qualified, I couldn’t believe it. It’s a dream come true!”
This latest achievement is due to the hours of hard work and hundreds of miles of swimming that Sophie puts in at the pool each week, before and after school and at the weekends.
We wish Sophie every success in the upcoming trials and will be following her swimming career closely.