South Shropshire teenage swimmer Fern Davies revelled on the big stage as she enhanced her growing reputation by smashing her personal bests in the Olympic trials at Sheffield.
The week-long event, which also incorporated the European Youth trials, brought together the country’s top swimmers looking to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
Fern’s sights are set firmly on London in four years time, and the 15-year-old showed she is a name for the future with some eye-catching performances.
The Ludlow swimmer, who lives in Little Hereford and who attends Wigmore High School, produced several personal best performances during the high profile trials as she underlined her potential.
She reached two ‘B’ finals, finishing second in one and third in another, with her swims now seeing her move to the verge of the country’s top 10 despite still being at a very young age.
Fern’s performances earned her qualification for the British squad to go to the European Youth Games in Belgrade in July – while for good measure she also set a Welsh junior record.
“I felt good and knew that I was swimming well, so if I put my mind to it I felt I could do well,” said a delighted Fern, who was representing the City of Birmingham club.
“I was really chuffed to get in two finals against such good swimmers.
“The whole week was a such a good feeling, there was a brilliant atmosphere and I really enjoyed being part of the City of Birmingham team which had such a good team spirit.”
Her record-breaking swim came in the heats of the women’s B 200 metres individual medley when clocking a superb 2 minutes 18.57 seconds, chopping around three seconds off her previous best.
While setting a new Welsh junior record, the time was just three tenths of a second outside an all-time Welsh record while Fern was less than four seconds off an Olympic qualifying time.
And with the talented youngster having plenty of time on her side, there is every chance she could be flying the flag in the London Olympics in four years’ time.
In the final of the women’s 200m individual medley, Fern finished second in 2 mins 18.49 seconds.
She also finished third in the 400m individual medley in the women’s B final, clocking a time of 4.57.4.
Fern, who is a member of the Great Britain Development squad, also swam to a personal best in the 200 metres butterfly in a time of 2.18.
The sparkling times saw the youngster take another big step towards reaching the top in a week that many dreams were made or broken for hundreds of swimmers.
In the trials, swimmers had to achieve the Olympic qualifying time in the heats and then needed to finish in the top two in the final for selection.
Fern is no stranger to the big stage having represented England in the World Student Games, but admitted that last week’s experience topped the lot so far.
