Darlington Swimming Club swimmer, Harriet Rogers, has been selected as a member of Swim England’s National Performance Squad, on the basis of her swimming performances in sprint events both before and during the pandemic.
At age 16, Harriet is one of the youngest to achieve this selection, and is also the only selected swimmer currently based in a club in the N&D area.
Along with all the English swimmers currently named on British Swimming’s and British Para-swimming’s World Class programme (which includes such household names as Adam Peaty, Freya Anderson and Maisie Summers-Newton) the National Performance Squad swimmers have been named in the first-ever England Swimming Team ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham.
The full team consists of 85 swimmers and brings together all those currently to be considered for selection for Team England at those Games. Once swimmers are back in the pool, they will have the opportunity to demonstrate their potential. The Team will attend a number of swimming camps and preparation meets. Grant Robins is the team leader for England Swimming at the 2022 home games and is excited to be creating a new identity for the team.
During Lockdown 3 Harriet is currently taking part in some intensive elite training run by Swim England near Northampton, involving 2.5-4.5 hours per day 6 days per week. She has been invited to compete at the invitation only Manchester International Swim Meet to be held on 12-14 February. Ahead lies a lot of hard work, in order to maximise the opportunities that she has been given, especially at this time when many swimmers are not allowed to be in the pool.
Harriet joined DASC at age 7, and since then has made great progress, showing huge determination, which, combined with very hard work and enormous natural talent, has seen her win silver medals for 50m and 100m Freestyle at the British Swimming Championships in August 2019. She currently lies 3rd on the European Rankings for her age for 50m Freestyle.
“I am thrilled by Harriet’s fantastic and well-deserved achievements so far. I anticipate an interesting and demanding 18 months for Harriet in her training for the Commonwealth Games. Harriet’s family have given tremendous commitment and made great sacrifices to support her. I am grateful to all the coaches who have nurtured her talent and helped develop her potential over the years. I hope that with the right support from the area she will go on to become successful, make the Commonwealth Games team, put our club in the spotlight and do herself proud, hopefully with the possibility of a medal.”
Comment, Head Coach, Glen Fenby
“This is a fantastic achievement for a hugely talented swimmer and we are all extremely proud of Harriet. She is an inspiration to many DASC swimmers, showing what hard work and determination can achieve along with the support of the excellent DASC coaching team. The club wish Harriet every success with her future swimming journey.”
Comment, DASC Chair, Dan Oliver
When she isn’t training, Harriet is studying hard for A Levels, and QE VIth Form College in Darlington have been supportive in Harriet’s endeavour to follow her swimming dream while continuing her education. In addition, Harriet is also doing a Diploma in Sporting Excellence through Swim England and Loughborough University.
Article – with thanks to Jane Teague DASC Secretary