Dalgety Bay swimmer, Lucy Ellis, will return to the scene of her 2007 triumphs when she competes for the British team at the European Junior Championships in Belgrade, Serbia in July.

The venue and most of the opponents will be familiar to the Fife 15 year old.  Competing for team GB in the European Youth Olympics at the same pool last summer, Lucy won the bronze medal in the 200 metre freestyle and led the 4x100 metre freestyle relay team to a silver.

“There’ll be pretty much the same group of people in the competition and I’d like to get a higher medal than last year - a gold,” she said.

A member of Edinburgh’s Dunedin Swimming Club, Lucy makes a twice daily trip across the Forth for training.  She combines a busy school schedule with a weekly training load of 10 swims and two strength & conditioning sessions at the East of Scotland Institute of Sport, plus more time spent running.  But the heavy schedule has contributed towards an excellent season.

In the British & Olympic trials at Sheffield in March – also the qualifying event for the Europeans - she was the fastest swimmer with 1992/93 birth date in the 100m freestyle despite being young for her age group. She broke the 100m long course age group and junior records at the event in a time of 57.85 seconds. 

At the recent Scottish National age group Championships she set an age group and junior record in the 100m butterfly.  Her 62.22 seconds time earned her first place in the British rankings for her age group.

“Lucy has developed into a superb 100 and 200 metre freestyle swimmer,” said Elaine Matthews, her coach for the last three years.  “She’s a wonderful technician, particularly in freestyle, although her butterfly is moving on as well.

“She just recorded a 62.22 at the recent Scottish national age groups where she was miles ahead of anybody in her own age group. That takes her into the top 10 in Europe for that category as well.” 

 “I’m trying to get qualification times for the Commonwealth Youth Games,” said Lucy. “I’ve got a couple already but you have to get them at certain competitions.  I have two more opportunities to qualify; at the European Championships and in the Scottish Open this month.”