Swimming: Manx records smashed at Ponds Forge

Justice, Robinson & Watterson all set new standards in Sheffield

Isle of Man swimmers have set six new Manx records whilst competing at this year's Swim England National Winter Championships in Sheffield.

Ella Justice, Harry Robinson and Joel Watterson were among those to set new benchmarks at Ponds Forge from 5-8 December at a meeting in which Island records were broken 11 times in total.

During the four days, Justice set new records of 27.69 seconds and and two minutes, 10.14 seconds in the women's 50m Backstroke and women's 200m Backstroke respectively whilst also breaking the Island record in the women's 100m Backstroke final.

Elsewhere, Robinson set a new Men's 50m Butterfly record on the opening day of 23.94 seconds before breaking the Men's 50m Backstroke record twice to set a new national best 24.16 seconds.

Watterson's success came in the Men's 100m Freestyle where he shattered his own Manx record in the class first by clocking 48.88 seconds and then beating it again on the final day to register 48.84 seconds.

This latest success comes just over a month after some positive performances from Island swimmers such as Chloe Batty, Libby Curphey, Lauren Dennett, Dylan Larrosa and Alex Turnbull at the 2024 North West Winter Regionals in Manchester on 2-3 November.