Semester two: Performance sport round up
From clean sweeps and national titles, to international selections and records set – 2025 begun with a bang and hasn’t showed any sign of slowing down since.
In January, the University’s Athletics Club scholars came out firing, dominating the podiums at the BUCS Cross Country Championships. Fresh from their outing at the European Cross Country Championships the month before, BUCS debutants Jess Bailey and Poppy Tank claimed a stunning podium 1-2, leading the women to Team Silver. The men’s race also saw two of Birmingham’s finest on the podium, with Tomer Tarragano taking the victory and Ollie Smart backing him up for bronze, culminating in the men’s team title.
From the mud and hills of cross-country to the dry air and tight bends of the indoor track, Birmingham’s endurance and versatility were on full display as just two weeks separated the BUCS Cross Country Championships and the BUCS Indoor Athletics Championships.
Despite the quick turnaround, the University’s athletes rose to the challenge and returned with an impressive seven medals, underlining the strength of its athletics programme. Among the standout performances were Tommy Bridger and Kimani Jack, both supported through the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS), with Bridger storming to gold in the 3000m and Jack soaring to silver in the high jump.
Pictured right: Tommy Bridger
Graduate EDCAP scholar Issy Boffey won the inaugural Keely Klassic – an event that was launched and delivered in Birmingham, and one that the University was proud to support – before going onto become the British Athletics Indoor 800m champion, securing her automatic qualification sport within Great Britain’s European Athletics Indoor Championships squad. Alongside Issy, fellow EDCAP Graduate Scholar Hannah Kelly and alumni Georgia Hunter-Bell and Tom Keen also secured selection for Great Britain, whilst alumnus James Gormley was selected to make his senior international debut for Ireland. Most notably at the Championships in Apeldoorn, Hannah ran an incredibly impressive second leg in the 4x400m relay to help the team not only claim silver, but also set a national record of 3:24.89.
Pictured left: Issy Boffey (@britsihathletics)
Although not her day in Apeldoorn, Geography alumna Georgia Hunter-Bell bounced back two weeks later to claim a brilliant and hard-fought bronze medal in the 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.
To conclude the stand out athletics’ result from the second semester, Graduate EDCAP scholar and 2024 Paralympic100m bronze medallist Didi Okoh completed the international classification process until 2027 with an emphatic win at the WPA Dubai Grand Prix in the T42 100m, and first year Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences student Jess Bailey ran the second fastest U20 5000m time ever by a British female, on the University’s very own track. Her time of 15:07.19 puts her behind only Zola Budd’s record from 1985.
In addition to those results gained on the indoor track, BUCS Nationals also saw fantastic performances from scholars at both ends of their University careers. First year International Business student and EDCAP scholar Samayara Panwar made her debut in the Individual Badminton Championships, achieving a stunning silver and beating the number one seed in the process, whilst resident Olympic finalist Ollie Morgan closed out his illustrious BUCS career by claiming the backstroke treble in the Long Course Championships. It was here that Swimming enjoyed their greatest team result in the history of the club, placing fifth overall. Andrew Stamp – another of our elite scholars that will graduate at the end of this year – also brought his BUCS campaign to a fitting close with a second consecutive FIG Men’s Trampoline victory.
BUCS Big Wednesday proved especially triumphant for Squash, with all four teams dominating their respective finals and claiming gold across the board. The Men’s and Women’s Performance Squads overcame strong opposition to win the National Championship Finals – the highest standard of University squash – whilst the Seconds’ followed suit in the National Trophy Finals, perfectly demonstrating the exceptional strength, depth, talent and commitment we have within our Club.
Following on from his momentous farewell to the BUCS scene in February, Ollie Morgan claimed a clean sweep of the backstroke events at the National Championships, securing qualifying standards in all three distances for the World Aquatics Championships later this year and obliterating his own 100m backstroke British Record in the process.
Elite hockey scholars Alice Atkinson and Lottie Bingham were selected to represent England at senior level in the next leg of the FIH Pro League. The players travelled to India alongside notable alumni – Lily Walker, Pippa Lock and Flora Peel, with Lily captaining England on the Saturday and scoring in the shoot-out on Sunday. Alice accepted a full-time contract as part of the Great Britain senior squad and has continued to work closely with her academic course and our Performance Lifestyle Lead Jo Eley to ensure balance between these commitments is maintained.
Finally, in continuing our efforts to shine a light on the accomplishments of our alumni and as well as to all those individuals mentioned above, congratulations go to esteemed Economics alumna and England Roses captain Fran Williams, who lifted the Vitality Netball Nations Cup following a 61-55 win over South Africa. Fellow alumna Ellie Rattu also featured within the squad. This was England’s first ever Nations Cup victory and the tournament that saw Fran achieve and celebrate 50 caps.
