Worksop Dolphins swimmers shine on international stage

It was another weekend of podium topping action for Dolphins pair Jake Franse and Max Davies.

The schoolboys, who attend Worksop College, both streaked to several impressive victories; with Max going on to receive a Commonwealth Games Talent Pathway call up; and Jake a mere 0.3 seconds away from a Dutch National Record.

At the Netherlands National Championships in Eindhoven, Jake (Y11) pulled off three sensational gold medal performances, to clinch his first international medal haul and become Dutch champion in the U16 100m and 200m Backstroke – striking the wall in 59:34 and 2:10:3 respectively, while also qualifying for the finals of 100m and 50m Free and 100m Fly.

In the Medley Relay, Jake’s performance was 0.3 seconds off the national record.

His successes mean he can now be invited to the Dutch National Team, should he decide to swim for them, and looking ahead, his sights are firmly set on qualification for the British Nationals.

Max Davies (Y10) travelled to Coventry for the English National Junior Para-swimming Championships 2023, where his standout performances saw him clinch gold in the 100m Freestyle (1:05:34) and take the No.1 spot across all age groups and all multi-classification categories. In two further hard-fought races, he picked up silver in the 400m Free (5:01:4) and bronze in the 50m Free (31:54).

To top off an extraordinary weekend, Max made selection for the National Team Pathway for the Commonwealth Games.

Dolphins head coach Giannis Valkoumas said: “The performance and effort of Max and Jake is truly phenomenal.

“Max has only been swimming competitively for two years and here we have someone who needs marginal improvement in his time to qualify for the Paralympics.

“In the space of a month for Jake, we see a dramatic Personal Best, which makes him one of the fastest Backstrokers in his age group in the whole of the UK, and in the Netherlands, he’s close to setting new records.”