No doubt boosted by London’s 2012 success, the British squad at the European Youth Olympics secured another 4 medals on the penultimate day of competition in Ligano. Hatfield’s Ceri Unwin led the way talking her third gold of the event and adding a silver for good measure, while Lizzie Simmonds increased her personal haul for the meet to 4 golds.
Unwin, who had already taken wins in the 400m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle relay, started as favourite in the 200m freestyle. Despite trailing at the halfway stage, Unwin turned on the speed over the closing stages to pull clear of the filed and touch home first, over a second clear of runner up, Greece’s Alexandra Maniou.
Earlier in the session Unwin had added to her personal medal tally with a silver in the 400m IM, having held second place throughout the race. Despite finishing behind Emes Kovacs of Hungary, the young Briton was comfortably clear of her nearest challengers.
Lizzie Simmonds took the British team’s second gold of the night; her fourth gold medal of the competition to add to her earlier wins in the 200m backstroke, 200m IM and 4x100m freestyle relay. The Lincoln Vulcans swimmer was a class apart in the 100m backstroke as she totally dominated the field, opening up a two second gap at the turn and coming home almost three seconds clear.
Christopher Fox rounded out the British medal winners with his British Age group record of 1:04.93 over 100m breaststroke good enough for the bronze medal.
Elsewhere, 100m champion Lauren Collins just missed out on a medal in the 50m sprint, touching in fourth, while Stuart Houston posted a 5th placed finish in the 200m butterfly.