Perse swimmer hopes for national finals place after claiming East success

21 May 2018

Sebastian Vandermeer (Year 9) hopes he has done enough to clinch a spot in the national finals after winning two golds and a bronze at the East Region Swimming Championships.

He won the 50m freestyle and played a part in helping his club City of Cambridge to victory in the 4x100m freestyle relay and third in the 4x200m freestyle relay in the regional championships at Norwich.

However, despite triumph in the individual event, Sebastian, who won a gold and two bronzes at the Thai National Age Group Championships last month, felt he should have gone quicker than his time of 25.80sec in the final.

He said: “I was confident I was going to win beforehand, I had checked all the times and mine was ranked first going into the competition. After the preliminary round of heats, I was ranked first by 0.52 seconds going into the final. However, my arm slipped on the blocks and this had a knock-on effect on my race. I went slower than in the prelims by 0.3 seconds, although I still won by 0.03 seconds.”

Sebastian narrowly missed out on adding to his medal tally after coming fourth in the 100m freestyle, having led the race before catching the lane rope. He also competed in the finals of the 200m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 200m individual medley.

His times from the events must stay among the top 25 in the country in the 15 year old boys’ category before the qualification window closes to ensure he will be on the starting blocks for the British Summer Championships and Swim England Championships in July.

Sebastian said: “This year I’m just looking to swim the competition and come in the top eight to make finals, although it’s a massive stretch. It would be an amazing experience and I’m really looking forward to it.

“All in all, regionals gave me something to look on and showed me areas that I need to improve, the largest being my mental preparation and mental toughness throughout the meet.

“It showed me that I really have to train more if I expect to get anywhere and now I’m working to do just that.”