University of Edinburgh athletes return from BUCS Nationals with 20 medals. Over 100 athletes and support staff from Edinburgh made the journey to Sheffield for BUCS Nationals this weekend. Taking place for the 9th time, BUCS Nationals brings together five individual BUCS Championship events, across three different venues. Swimming Image Success in the water began on the Friday night with a silver medal for the mixed relay team. Further wins followed, with another 13 medals claimed by Edinburgh athletes over the weekend. On Saturday, Scott Gibson set a Scottish Record in the heats on his way to picking up a Gold in the men’s 50 backstroke. Kara Hanlon won gold, in the women’s 50 breaststroke, with Katie Goodburn narrowly missing bronze, in fourth. Kara also picked up a silver in the 200 breaststroke final with Uiseann Cooke winning silver in the men’s event. David Cumberlidge picked up the third gold of the weekend claiming the men’s 50 free title and in the women’s 200 backstroke Ioanna Sacha secured a silver medal. The women’s 4x100 free relay team won silver with the men’s relay picked up the bronze medal in their race. Sunday afternoon saw Ciara Schlosshan claim silver in the Women’s 200 Butterfly. Kara Hanlon also continued her winning weekend with a Scottish Record, BUCS Record and a gold medal in the Women’s 100 Breaststroke. In the same event, Katie Robertson just missed out on bronze taking in fourth place. Uiseann Cooke added a bronze to his collection in the men’s 100 breaststroke and Tom Carswell picked up the bronze in the Men’s 50 Butterfly. The final medal of the weekend was won by the women’s 4x100 medley relay who secured silver helping to secure 2nd place overall. Athletics In the athletics championships, taking place in the English Institution of Sport, Niamh Carr picked up the silver medal in the women’s 1500. Unfortunately, despite a valiant effort, Sports Union mascot, Hector the Panda, was unable to make his mark on in the Mascot Race. Image Climbing After an intense day of climbing, the women’s team of Hannah Smith, Lisa Kean and Keira Farmer secured the bronze medal with the men's team finishing in 5th place. Image Fencing In the fencing championships, there was some fantastic performances on the Piste. Chloe Dickson and Giulia Gasparin made it an all Edinburgh final in the Sabre, picking up the the first two medals of the weekend. Chloe also added a silver medal to her collection in the women's foil. Patrycja Krzyzaniak won the bronze medal in the Women’s Epee. Badminton Despite some great performances on the court, the Edinburgh badminton team returned empty handed. In the men's singles Benedict Tan, Cameron Strachan and Jonathan Elsdon were knocked out in the qualifiers. In the men's doubles, Derek Zhao & Cameron Strachan lost in the second round qualifiers whilst Peter Sawkins and Calum Atterbury lost in the last 32 against the eventual silver medal winners. In the women's singles, Sophia Schubert went out in last 32 against the top seeded player, who also knocked Ai Jiang in the last 16. Eilidh McCallister also lost in last 32. In the women's doubles, Eilidh & Sophia lost in the last 32. Grace Choi & Jane Yi Chiam were knocked out in the same round by the top seeded pairing, who also beat Edinburgh Emily Harrison & Ai Jiang in the last 16. In the mixed doubles, Ai & Derek went out in the 3rd round qualifiers, Sophia & Peter went out in the 2nd round with Calum & Emily losing in the Last 16. Publication date 21 Feb, 2022