Abbie Wood in action

Abbie Wood has produced some fine performances at the European Aquatics Championships in Budapest. Image: Still Sport Photography.

Loughborough swimmers impress in Budapest

Loughborough swimmers once again turned on the style in the opening days at the European Aquatics Championships in Budapest.

Abbie Wood, the current University Criminology student, produced two phenomenal gold medal swims in Hungary.  

Wood was part of the GB 4x100m freestyle relay team that claimed its first title in 94 years as the quartet of Lucy Hope, Anna Hopkin, Abbie Wood and Freya Anderson set a new British record of three minutes 34.17 seconds to light up the Championships.

Wood followed this up with another storming swim in the 4x200m Mixed Freestyle, helping the GB side secure gold with a time of seven minutes 26.67 seconds – a new European Championships record.

Elsewhere, Adam Peaty once again showed his class in the 100m breaststroke, securing his fourth successive European 100m title.

Peaty touched the wall in 57.66 seconds to take victory, with a stunning finish from fellow Loughborough athlete James Wilby (58.58) seeing him take a well-deserved bronze medal.

Wilby later told BBC Sport:

"I love chasing people down at the end of the race and given our focus is on the summer I have to be happy with that [result]."

In the women’s butterfly, Marie Wattel continued her fine form to tie for gold in a tense race with Anna Ntountounaki of Greece. Both athletes finished in 57.37.

In the same race, there was more joy for Loughborough as Louise Hansson won bronze with a strong performance, finishing in 57.56.

In the women’s 4x 100m relay, Wattel was also part of the France team that secured bronze in what was a great start to the Championships for the Olympic qualifier.

In the men’s 400m free final, Felix Auboeck held his nerve to secure a strong silver in a time of 3:44.18.

During the heats, Loughborough-based Molly Renshaw set a new British 100m breaststroke record in the semi-finals by 0.51 seconds to 1:06.21.

The European Aquatics Championships in Budapest take place between 18 May – 23 May.

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