Crawley swimmer Amaia Lopez breaks her own British record

The three are hoping for places in the GBR team at the World Life Saving Championships 2024 taking place on Australia’s magnificent Gold Coast (a mecca for surfers).

The event in Eindhoven, Netherlands, attracted many top international competitors from as far afield as Hong Kong and South Africa resulting in an entry of over 700 competitive pool lifesavers.

Current GBR Youth team member, Amaia Lopez, was again Crawley Town’s star competitor breaking her own British Record in the 100m Rescue Medley for the third consecutive time this year in a time of 1:18.08 seconds. Remarkably, Amaia is still only 17 years old and so has another year in this age group during which she hopes to break her British Record again as well as break some other records.

The 100m Rescue Medley is considered to be the toughest pool event as the competitors need to swim 50 metres, turn and swim 17.5 metres underwater before lifting a 43kg manikin and carrying it back the remaining 35 metres to the finish. The question is always how fast the swimmer should swim the first 50 metres as once they have turned, they cannot resurface until they have collected the manikin. Amaia was in 5th place behind the German winner and four Italians which clearly demonstrates that the Italians remain the best in the World at the sport of pool lifesaving. In addition to the 100m Rescue Medley, Amaia also achieved a PB (personal best) time of 2:39.01 by over two seconds in the gruelling 200m Super Lifesaver, finishing 8th behind the Italians who took the top six places and a German.

Not letting the family down, 15-year-old Asier Lopez, who was one of the youngest in his age group (the same as that of his elder sister) also achieved a PB in the 100m Manikin Carry with fins in a time of 58.26 seconds finishing 40th in a field of 124 competitors, ahead of swimmers traveling from Hong Kong and South Africa to take part. The event saw Asier swim the first 60 metres underwater before surfacing and carrying the 43kg manikin 40 metres to the end.

Current Open and youngest British Open record holder in the 100m Manikin Carry with fins, Jack Sadberry, was unfortunate to be still suffering from the effects of a bug that had been going around his university in Swansea. Despite this, Jack was still within two seconds of his PB in all three events; which at this level only gave him placings in the top third of the World Class entry.

The sport of lifesaving continues to develop. At the Orange Cup 2023, competitors saw the current 100m Mankin Tow World Champion swim the first 50 metres with the tube on his back underwater. This is a technique Crawley Town had experimented with back in the 1990s but didn’t pursue following the embarrassment of their competitor losing direction under water to the amusement of the other competitors. Crawley Town will now review this technique again with the aim to maintain the competitive edge of its members.

Crawley Town wish all of its supporters a very Merry Christmas. If you would like to find out more about the Sport of Lifesaving and be part of the successful Crawley Town Life Saving Club, come along in the new year for a couple of free trials on Tuesday evenings from 8.00 to 10.00pm at the K2 Sports Centre.