Salford teen swim star Amelie gets the gold

A young teenager from Salford has won a European swimming gold medal by over a minute.

Fourteen-year-old Amelie Blocksidge won the coveted title at the European Junior Open Water Championships in Corfu, smashing the competition in the 14-15 years 5km race category.

The Worsley student’s time of 1:00:20.0 was well over a minute faster than her second-place opponent, Hungarian swimmer Napsugar Nagy, despite it being the first time she had competed in open sea water.

Although Amelie was swimming alone at the front for a large portion of the race, she admitted finding the conditions of the foreign waters challenging.

She said: “It was my first time swimming in the sea, so obviously the salt and stuff dries your throat.

“I’ve only ever done a 5k race once.”

Her gold medal is the latest addition to a plethora of titles won by the swimmer, including three British age group medals at the March Swedish Grand Prix, and a British record at the April British Swimming Championships.

Gaining leadership during the race was no easy feat for Amelie who made the bold decision to deviate from the typical open water swimming technique.

Amelie said: “At the start I was at the back and everyone was swimming on top of each other, so I had to go around everyone and go to the font.

“Most people in an open water race like to stay in a pack because you can do something called drafting, which means that it just makes it easier for you.”

Amelie also discussed finding the ability to remain level headed in spite of her many wins, she added: “I’m quite, like, humble in a way, I don’t go into a race knowing that I’m going to win it.

“Whoever wins it, wins it, and that was me.”

The teen also said she had a mantra which enabled her to stay grounded during the high-pressure race, which was: “Control what you can control, and then just deal with what you can’t.”

After the high of achieving such a prestigious title over the weekend, Amelie is now preparing for the Winter North-West swim Regionals, in which she will compete in the 25m category.