Swimmers Impress at Winter Yorkshires

Posted on 15 October 2014

Con­grat­u­la­tions to all those who con­tributed to our fan­tas­tic medal tal­ly dur­ing the York­shire Win­ter Com­pe­ti­tion 2014. 

Richard Denigan and Terry Denison holding their coaching awards

City of Leeds Coaches Past and Present Recognised by BSCA

Posted on 29 September 2014

Ter­ry Deni­son and Richard Deni­gan both received awards at the British Swim­ming Coach­es Asso­ci­a­tion annu­al awards dinner. 

For­mer Chief Coach Ter­ry Deni­son received a life­time achieve­ment and ser­vice award. Ter­ry coached at the club for 35 years, dur­ing which time we had 17 Olympians win­ning 1 gold and 1 bronze medal. 

Cur­rent Chief Coach Richard Deni­gan was giv­en a coach­ing award of excel­lence in recog­ni­tion of his role in Sophie Tay­lor’s Com­mon­wealth gold medal. This rounds off an excel­lent year for both Richard and the club. 

2013-14 Season Summary

Posted on 10 September 2014

This sea­son has been one of our most suc­cess­ful sea­sons for many years, con­tin­u­ing the suc­cess we achieved last year and improv­ing upon it at both inter­na­tion­al and nation­al levels. 

Great Britain took teams to the Euro­pean Junior Cham­pi­onships, Mare Nos­trum Meet and the Euro­pean Cham­pi­onships. City of Leeds had a rep­re­sen­ta­tive on each of these in addi­tion to the Eng­land Com­mon­wealth Games team, and con­tributed to the medal haul in every com­pe­ti­tion. The club pro­duced its first senior inter­na­tion­al medal­list since 2002 when Sophie Tay­lor became Com­mon­wealth Games cham­pi­on in the wom­en’s 100m breast­stroke, break­ing her own British record. In the 50m breast­stroke, Sophie broke a long stand­ing British record in the heats and made it through to the semi-finals and finals. 

City of Leeds had three Team GB rep­re­sen­ta­tives at the Euro­pean Junior Cham­pi­onships, win­ning two sil­ver and two bronze medals and also break­ing 4 British age group records. This was our most suc­cess­ful Euro­pean Junior Cham­pi­onships ever. 

In the 2013 – 14 sea­son, City of Leeds swim­mers have bro­ken 17 nation­al records in senior and junior events. 

Domes­ti­cal­ly, we have start­ed to see City of Leeds swim­mers make senior finals as well as the podi­um at the British Cham­pi­onships. Our young­sters have bro­ken into the top 10 in the ​“open” rank­ings which is a good sign of the depth com­ing through the pro­gramme. Fin­ish­ing Top Club and Top Girls at Nation­al Age Groups with a host of dif­fer­ent swim­mers medalling and mak­ing finals, the pro­gram is now start­ing to show more depth. The youth swim­mers fin­ished 2nd in the Girls and 5th over­all. Hope­ful­ly, over the next sev­er­al years we will con­tin­ue to build with the depth of the young­sters com­ing through to a senior lev­el. The domes­tic team events have seen City of Leeds main­tain their dom­i­nance in the Junior League and fin­ished third in the Nation­al Swim­ming league, our high­est fin­ish for some years. 

Cham­pi­onship Events 

Com­mon­wealth Games 

1 Gold  Wom­en’s 100m breaststroke  British record 
1 Silver  Wom­en’s 4 x 100m med­ley relay  British record 
6th  Wom­en’s 50m breaststroke  British record 

Euro­pean Junior Cham­pi­onships, July 2014 

  • 2 Sil­ver
  • 2 Bronze
  • 4 British age group records 

Por­tuguese Nation­al Championships 

1 Silver  Wom­en’s 200m breaststroke  British age group record 
4th  Wom­en’s 100m breaststroke  British age group record 

British Cham­pi­onships, Glas­gow, April 2014 

  • 8 Nation­al records 
  • 1 British senior record (Wom­en’s 100m breaststroke) 
  • 2 Eng­lish senior records (100m breast­stroke, 200m breaststroke) 
  • 5 British age group records 
  • 3 Senior gold medals 
  • 6 Junior gold medals 
  • 1 Junior sil­ver medal 
  • 3 Senior finalists 
  • 1 Junior finalist 

Nation­al Youth Cham­pi­onships, Sheffield July 2014 

  • 2nd Top Girl’s Team 
  • 5th Top Team 
  • 1 British age group record 
  • 3 Gold medals 
  • 2 Sil­ver medals 
  • 4 Bronze medals 
  • 14 Final­ists placed 4th – 10th 

Nation­al Open Cham­pi­onships, Sheffield July 2014 

  • 1 Gold medal 
  • 1 Bronze medal 
  • 5 Final placings 

Nation­al Age Group Cham­pi­onships, Sheffield July 2014 

  • 1st Top Team 
  • 1st Top Girl’s Team 
  • 6 Gold medals 
  • 2 Sil­ver medals 
  • 6 Bronze medals 
  • 30 Final­ists placed 4th – 10th 

Welsh Sum­mer Nation­als, Swansea July 2014 

  • 25 Gold medals 
  • 24 Sil­ver medals 
  • 34 Bronze medals 
  • 164 Final placings 
  • 5 Meet records 

Region­al Youth & Senior Cham­pi­onships, May 2014 

  • 7 Gold medals 
  • 9 Sil­ver medals 
  • 3 Bronze medals 
  • 13 Final­ists placed 4th – 10th 

Region­al Age Group Cham­pi­onships, June 2014 

  • 28 Gold medals 
  • 23 Sil­ver medals 
  • 24 Bronze medals 
  • 133 Final­ists

York­shire Cham­pi­onships, Feb­ru­ary 2014 

  • 77 Gold medals 
  • 60 Sil­ver medals 
  • 55 Bronze medals 
  • 348 Final­ists 4th – 10th 

Team Events 

  • Nation­al Age Group Team Cham­pi­ons 2014 
  • Nation­al Age Group Girls Team Cham­pi­ons 2014 
  • Nation­al Junior League Cham­pi­ons 2013 – 2014 
  • 3rd Nation­al Are­na Swim­ming League 2013 – 2014 
  • York­shire Age Group Cham­pi­ons 2013 – 2014 

Golden Night for Taylor in Glasgow

Posted on 29 July 2014

Sophie Tay­lor pro­duced a stun­ning per­for­mance last night in the 100m breast­stroke to claim gold in a new British record of 1:06.35.

Ear­li­er in the week she broke the British record in the 50m breast­stroke dur­ing the heats and fin­ished 4th in the final.

Sophie will hope to add anoth­er medal when she swims in the 4 x 100m med­ley relay final this evening.

Black Impresses in Portugal

Posted on 28 July 2014

Lay­la Black sets two British age group records at the Por­tugese Open Nation­al Championships.

Com­pet­ing for the Nation­al Eng­land Tal­ent Team, Lay­la was one of the youngest com­peti­tors tak­ing part in the cham­pi­onships. Lay­la once again proved that she is cer­tain­ly capa­ble of being suc­cess­ful at senior championships.

Lay­la set two British age group records in the 100m and 200m breast­stroke and set best times in every event she com­pet­ed in.

Lay­la now trav­els to Sheffield to com­pete in the Nation­al Age Group Cham­pi­onships, where we wish her and the rest of the team the best of luck!

50m breast­stroke 33.17 PB 2nd B‑Final
100m breast­stroke 1:11.09 PB 4th A‑Final British age group record
200m breast­stroke 2:31.00 PB Sil­ver A‑Final British age group record
400m IM 5:04.49 PB Gold B‑Final
200m but­ter­fly 2:24.76 PB Bronze B‑Final

Coates Claims Silver to Close Out European Juniors in Style

Posted on 13 July 2014

Geor­gia Coates wins sil­ver in the 200m indi­vid­ual med­ley to take our final medal tal­ly in Dor­drecht to four. 

A life­time best per­for­mance of 2:14.72 gave Geor­gia Coates a sil­ver medal in the 200m indi­vid­ual med­ley. This con­cludes a superb week for the 15 year old who now has a sil­ver and a bronze medal in her col­lec­tion. As does Amelia Clynes, who was back in action tonight in the 50m but­ter­fly. She swam yet anoth­er life­time best to fin­ish 10th in a time of 27.90.

The club would like to thank every­one who made these results possible. 

Euro­pean Junior Cham­pi­onships 2014 – Summary

2 Sil­ver

  • Amelia Clynes: 100m but­ter­fly (British age group record)
  • Geor­gia Coates: 200m IM

2 Bronze

  • Amelia Clynes: 200m but­ter­fly (British age group record)
  • Geor­gia Coates: 400m IM

1 Final­ist

  • Mag­dale­na Cygan: 4 x 100m freestyle relay (4th)

Leeds Suc­cess at Euro­pean Junior Cham­pi­onships (Leeds Sport and Active Lifestyles) 

Clynes and Coates Continue to Excel in Dordrecht

Posted on 12 July 2014

As the Euro­pean Junior Cham­pi­onships draw to a close, our rep­re­sen­ta­tives show no signs of let­ting up.

Yes­ter­day saw Amelia Clynes set a new British Age Group record in the 100m but­ter­fly to qual­i­fy joint fastest for tonight’s final. In the final, Amelia dipped under the one minute bar­ri­er for the first time to touch home in 59.96. A per­for­mance that low­ered her British mark once again and earnt her a sil­ver medal in a close-fought race.

Hav­ing won a bronze medal in the 400m indi­vid­ual med­ley ear­li­er in the week, Geor­gia Coates was back in action today, this time com­pet­ing in the 200m event. She qual­i­fied sec­ond quick­est for tomor­row’s final.

Leeds Ladies Enjoy First Day European Success (updated)

Posted on 10 July 2014

Last night on the first day of the Euro­pean Junior Cham­pi­onships in Dor­drecht, three City of Leeds swim­mers were in action for Team GB.

Geor­gia Coates swam a five sec­ond life time best to win a bronze medal in the 400m indi­vid­ual med­ley. She also placed 6th in the 800m freestyle.

Mag­dale­na Cygan nar­row­ly missed out on a medal as she fin­ished 4th in the 4 x 100m freestyle.

Amelia Clynes qual­i­fied in 2nd fastest for the final of the 200m butterfly.
Update, 11 July: In the final, Amelia won a bronze medal in a British Age Group record time of 2:11.46.

Keep track of the results on ejc​swim​ming2014​.nl.

Ian Greyson

Posted on 5 July 2014

The club is sad to announce the death of Ian Greyson, the for­mer Head Coach of City of Leeds Swim­ming Club.

Ian came to the club as Senior Age Group Coach and took over the role of Head Coach from Ter­ry Deni­son in 2003. He was respon­si­ble for the con­tin­u­ing suc­cess of the club for a num­ber of years, until he moved to work at Leeds Met­ro­pol­i­tan Uni­ver­si­ty (now Leeds Beck­ett) in 2007. He coached many swim­mers to achieve nation­al and inter­na­tion­al suc­cess dur­ing that time and main­tained the club’s top posi­tion in nation­al events.

He was an excel­lent coach and a great friend and men­tor to many swim­mers and coach­es, not only here in Leeds but as part of his exten­sive work with region­al and nation­al squads.

He will be fond­ly remem­bered and sad­ly missed.

Our con­do­lences go to his fam­i­ly and friends.

Sophie Taylor Leads Leeds Charge at British Championships

Posted on 29 April 2014

Ath­letes per­formed beyond expec­ta­tions in our best British Cham­pi­onships for many years.

Sophie Tay­lor awaits con­fir­ma­tion of her place on England’s team for the Glas­gow 2014 Com­mon­wealth Games after she achieved two con­sid­er­a­tion times at the British Cham­pi­onships. On her way to the 50m, 100m and 200m breast­stroke tre­ble, she broke her own British 100m breast­stroke record, the Eng­lish 200m breast­stroke record and the British 18 years age group 50m breast­stroke record.

Head coach Richard Deni­gan was delight­ed by her per­for­mances: ​“The 50m, 100m, 200m breast­stroke tre­ble hadn’t been done for sev­en years. We are all extreme­ly proud of her.”

Also excelling in the breast­stroke events was 13 year old Lay­la Black, who broke her age group’s British 200m breast­stroke record and qual­i­fied for the senior final in this event; a ​“very high lev­el” per­for­mance which made her the youngest final­ist in the whole competition.

What’s more, Geor­gia Coates, Amelia Clynes and Mag­dale­na Cygan have all received con­fir­ma­tion that they will rep­re­sent Great Britain at the Euro­pean Junior Cham­pi­onships in Hol­land in July.

Deni­gan was very proud of his junior team: ​“Leeds have the largest rep­re­sen­ta­tion of any club for this British team and it proves that Leeds City Coun­cil Swim­ming Pro­gramme, from lessons to the elite, is work­ing very well.”