Back To Business

The last month has been back to business for athletes, with a number of competitions taking place in a variety of different formats across sports. There has been no shortage of GSF representation either, with at least 10 athletes involved.

Lucy Charles-Barclay

On the 27th of March 2021 our very own London Aquatics Centre proudly welcomed the Super League Triathlon, the world's premier swim-bike-run series featuring the best triathletes on the planet.

“SLT is a dynamic new format which blends in real life and virtual racing to deliver a unique viewing experience”. The first event of its kind and the first triathlon event held solely inside the Aquatics Centre.

Throughout the day we got to see four fuel-packed races each with three stages, each combining 200m swims, 4km bike and 1km runs with points to be collected from each stage. Races included mixed para triathletes, elite female and elite males battling it out for first place.

Great Britain’s Beth Potter won the women's elite race with GLL’s Sport Foundation Athlete Lucy Charles-Barclay coming in second and Sophie Coldwell taking third place.

If you didn’t catch the live event on BBC Sport you can catch up on all the action on Youtube HERE

Lucy Charles-Barclay has also given a brilliant insight into her training and aims to be the first woman to complete an Ironman in under 8 hours. On average an Ironman is completed in 12.5 hours and consists of swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 miles and running a marathon, back to back. You can read Lucy's interview about her ambition HERE 

Joseph Choong

Joseph Choong claimed mixed relay gold for Britain with Partner Olivia Green, 0n the final day of the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) World Cup in Hungarian capital Budapest.
The British duo racked up a winning score of 1,470 points to edge out home pair Sarolta Simon and Balazs Szep.

Green and Choong were sixth after the fencing before reeling off victories in the swimming, riding and laser run.

They finished the swimming in a winning time of 1min 52.75sec before scoring 287 in riding and completing the laser run in 11:00.99 to clinch top spot.

The mixed relay brought to a close the first UIPM World Cup competition in 13 months as athletes aimed to boost their qualification hopes for this year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Virtual Diving Nations Challenge

On April 1st international diving was back but in a very new way. Diving Canada hosted the first virtual diving competition, the Virtual Nations Challenge. Divers participated at their home centres and were scored by judges via video link, the whole event was streamed via Diving Canada for fans to watch.

There were a number of GSF athlete involved including  Noah Williams, Matty Lee, Eden Cheng,  Scarlett Mew Jensen, Grace Reid, Michela Bouter, Andrea  Spendolini-Sirieix and Tom Daley were all involved and on fine form.

Tom Daley took the top spot in the men's metre final with some exceptional diving. Noah Williams joined his Dive London teammate to take second place.

Team mates Tom Daley and Matty Lee also took first place in the 10-metre platform synchronized final. Eden Cheng was involved in the Women 10 meter Sycro, while Grace Reid was involved in the Women 3 meter synchro. Andrea  Spendolini-Sirieix came a respectable 5th in the women 10 meter final.

You can see all the results and watch the event HERE
Callum Sullivan

This weekend Cambridge won the 2021 Boat Race in both the men's and women's events. A big congratulation to GSF and Greenwich Starting blocks support athlete Callum Sullivan who is currently Cambridge University Boat Club Men’s President.