Middlesbrough swimmer Aimee Willmott admits she is already targeting success in Rio after picking up three gold medals at the BUCS Nationals in Sheffield at the weekend.
Willmott, who won two silver medals at last year’s Commonwealth Games, blew her competition out of the water to claim victory in the women’s 400m individual medley, 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly.
She set a Championship record in the latter two, clocking 2:10.42 minutes in the butterfly as well as 4:36.36 in the freestyle.
The Middlesbrough ASC swimmer will soon turn her attention to April’s British Championships, which double up as trials for the World Championships in Russia in the summer.
And while Willmott doesn’t believe it will be easy, she is adamant that BUCS success has put her on course to make the Great Britain squad.
“It is going to be tough to make the worlds team this year,” explained the 21-year-old, who celebrates her 22nd birthday tomorrow.
“There are a lot of quick qualifying times and rankings, so I’ve just been getting my head down and working hard.
“Hopefully all that hard work I’m putting in now is showing that what I’m doing is working.
“To come away with the times I did when I know I’m in a heavy block of training is a real confidence boost for me.
“Hopefully if I can take a couple of seconds off my PB this year then it sets me up well for next year with prospects for Rio and hopefully doing well there.”
Aimee Willmott with one of her gold medals at the BUCS Nationals in Sheffield
Elsewhere in Sheffield, there was disappointment for Middlesbrough Athletics Club runner Rachel Highfield as she finished sixth in her women’s 60m semi-final to miss out on a final spot.
But Middlesbrough boxer Rob Bennett fared much better as he lifted the men’s open 52-56kg boxing title at Ponds Forge.
Bennett, representing Leeds Beckett University, battled his way to a hard-fought, split decision victory over Portsmouth University’s Cain Bradley in the final.
The 20-year-old acknowledged that his heart was in his mouth waiting for the decision to be announced but after getting the nod, he is already making plans to defend his title in 12 months time.
“I thought I had the fight won but when it was announced as a split decision, a bit of doubt definitely crept into my mind,” said Bennett.
“Thankfully I got the decision in the end though.
“I’ve really enjoyed my first BUCS – it’s something a bit different with all the sports on, so I will definitely be back next year.
“We’ve got our own show coming up in a fortnight’s time, so this was the perfect lead-in for that.”
• British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for Higher Education sport in the UK, representing 170 institutions and facilitating 52 sport programmes. BUCS has been shortlisted for Governing Body of the Year at the BT Sports Industry Awards 2015 and is supported by Deloitte www.bucs.org.uk.
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