IAPS National Swimming Finals 2026 @ London Aquatics Centre

Watch the teams in action here.

Match Report

Result: 

Boys - 8th

Girls - 7th

We were incredibly pleased to have reached the National Finals once again this year, with both a Boys and Girls team, as well as Josh F, who qualified as an individual. This is no easy task, given that you require 8 swimmers, four Y5’s and four Y6’ of the same gender. We were possibly the smallest small school in the competition, with 16 pupils competing from a cohort of 40. Given the fact that schools can only qualify as a ‘small school’ if they have less than 30 boys or 30 girls, we are certainly holding our own! 

The day was filled with nerves, excitement and anticipation. Both teams approached this event with optimism and courage. It really is quite a daunting task to step up onto the blocks in such an iconic venue, in front of a large crowd, especially for those who do not swim competitively out of school! Each and every one of them did this with confidence and gave their best, in what turned out to be two very competitive finals.  

The boys were seeded 6th in the final following qualification at Repton. They had a strong start to their race, with club swimmers George C (captain) and Year 5, Harvey, holding 4th position. George was elected to swim the first leg given his experience and he did a great job. Harvey was chosen to swim the second leg, performing the first changeover for the team. Harvey has recently joined Lincoln Vulcans and it has certainly paid dividends. Unfortunately, despite effective dives, Year 5 swimmers, Vinnie and Ralph, were both unlucky to lose their goggles which understandably impacted on the team’s performance. Nonetheless, they showed great resilience and were able to acknowledge that these things happen in sport - we learn from it and come back stronger. Both boys are Year 5 so will have the opportunity to swim next year. It is also worth highlighting that Vinnie only joined us at the start of the year with very limited experience. Gio put in a strong swim and it was great to see him part of this team before he returns to the US this summer. Gio has made significant progress during his time with us so it was lovely that he had the opportunity to swim at this event. Beau is one of our most explosive swimmers off the block and he showed great confidence as he entered the water. Our final Year 5 swimmer was Harry L who has also made significant progress this season and it certainly showed as he raced his 25m. Powerhouse, Joshua M, swam the final leg of the relay and had an epic chase, putting the team into 8th position. Joshua has recently joined Lincoln Vulcans so we suspect he will continue to go from strength to strength. Though the race did not necessarily go to plan for the boys, they should be so proud to have finished 8th nationally in a competitive fiel, as well as achieving a PB performance!

Next up was our Y7 swimming star, Joshua F. Unlike the relay teams, Joshua had to qualify from an open field, rather than the small schools category. This is a tough task given the competitive field, with some of the most prestigious swimming schools across the UK in the mix. This did not phase Joshua and he approached his race as cool as a cucumber! In his heat, Joshua finished 10th and though he did not quite swim a PB, he was pleased to bump himself up a place. A great effort. Joshua has made an outstanding contribution to swimming during his time at St Hugh’s and should be very proud of all that he has achieved. 

The girls team were also seeded 6th in the Finals which saw them competing in the same lane as the boys. The girls team was a younger team with just three Year 6’s, four Year 5’s and Eme B, who swam up as a Year 4. All three of our Y6’s girls competed in the finals last year though none of them swim competitively out of school. We did however have four Vulcan swimmers in the team so these girls coped well with the scale of the event. A shout out to Year 5 team member, Livvy, who only joined us at the start of the year and does not swim out of school. Once again we opted to put out our most experienced swimmer, Hollie F, to swim the first leg. Hollie gave us a solid start as she passed over to Eme, the youngest member of our team. Eme had a great entry and strong swim and certainly held her own against Y5/6 opposition. Our next swimmer, Abi, watched her sister compete at this event in 2022 and vowed that she wanted to swim in this when she was older! It was heartwarming to see her dream come true (and made me feel quite old!). Abi has worked very hard to get to this point and she had a great swim. She passed over to Vulcan's swimmer, Cecily, who always gives 100%. Cecily had a confident entry and solid swim. Our final three swimmers were our Year 6 girls. In her usual style, Verity had a super explosive dive start and worked hard to maintain our position. Annabelle also put in a good swim to pass over to our final swimmer, Harriet. Like Joshua, Harriet has a good chase in her so was elected to swim the final leg. She gave it everything and finished the race strong to give the girls a 7th place nationally, with a huge 9 second PB. It was not until meeting the parents after, that we discovered the girls had swam a faster race than our 2022 Bronze medalists - I think this definitely gives Abi bragging rights (sorry Megan!). 

Overall, a fantastic effort by TEAM ST HUGH’S!  It has been a real pleasure working with this group and I would like to thank them for their effort and commitment. Thank you to George C, for captaining the U11 team this year, he has been a great support and carried out his duties with pride. My thanks also go to Miss Kilby and Mrs E-C who have supported swimming over the season. A special thanks to those swimmers who will be moving on next year. I hope you leave St Hugh’s with some very fond memories of our time in the pool, both at St Hugh’s and across the country! Finally, my thanks go to our loyal supporters, the parents. Thank you for supporting all the children, not just your own and for helping to build their confidence through encouragement. 

Link to video here.