A young swimmer from Welling recently became the national open water champion in her age group in Sheffield.

Shannon Dalligan, 12, a former pupil of Bexleyheath’s Belmont Primary School, was competing in the 1.5km race at the national age group swimming championships in Sheffield and returned home with a gold medal.

The success came after competing the previous week in the pool in the 800m freestyle, where she finished ninth nationally, the 200m freestyle (also ninth nationally), the 400m freestyle (13th nationally) and the 100m freestyle (33rd nationally).

Dalligan learnt to swim with Aquazone at Crook Log pool before she moving onto a swimming club.

Whilst at the club she was offered a trial by an elite swimming school and was then selected for a scholarship at Ellesmere College in Shropshire, where she has been since September 2013.

When the yopungster is home from college she trains with Saxon Crown in Lewisham to help maintain her fitness.