Bethany Coggins in action in the pool.

12 April 2007

HETHERSETT teenager Bethany Coggins is now nationally ranked number two in her age group for 200m butterfly

She recently displayed her prowess in her speciality stroke - butterfly - competing in the 50m, 100m and 200m events at the Norfolk County Championships held at Thetford's Waterworld.

Bethany, who swims for UEA/City of Norwich, broke the county (25m) championship records in the 50m and 200m butterfly, to finish first in a time of 30.72 and 2:21.62 respectively and was only narrowly beaten into second place, swimming a 1:06.43, by the talented 16-year-old Hannah John from King's Lynn in the 100m butterfly.

Bethany, 13, then went on to compete in the British Championships held in Manchester from March 26 to April 1.

She had managed to qualify for the 400m individual medley, 100m butterfly and 200m butterfly heats, in which the qualifying times are set at an exceedingly high standard, making her one of the youngest to attend.

The (50m) championships acted as trials for next year's Olympics, also doubling up as a picking point for the European junior championships and the European Youth Olympics, for the younger swimmers, being held in July of this year.

Paving the way for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the championships also featured for the first time heats starting at 4pm and semi-finals and finals at 8am the following mornings.

Warm-ups for these finals began at 6am, so most days were very long and tiring.

Bethany swam the 400 individual medley first, knocking a second off her personal best time to record a creditable 5:13.93.

With an entry time of 1:08.87, she then swam the 100m butterfly, knocking nearly two seconds off her time to swim the distance in 1:06.92.

She demolished her entry time of 2:27.18, when she recorded a fantastic 2:23.37, knocking almost four seconds off her previous best time.

This fantastic achievement managed to place her in the junior 16/u final.

The final to be held on the following Sunday morning was packed with the stars of tomorrow.

Bethany, one of the youngest in the final, swam as hard as she could, finishing in sixth place - much to the delight of her parents and coach Dave Calleja.

She is now ranked number two nationally in her age group for the 200m butterfly.