Laura Marzolini makes history for Norwich Swan Swimming Club
Norwich Swan Swimming Club's Laura Marzolini has qualified for the British Swimming Championsips.
The 15-year-old has been a dominant force in her age group in the breaststroke events, at both county and East region level, for some years and a national age group qualifier for the last two.
She will now head for the British Swimming Championships at Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow in April.
When she took to the blocks at the Groundhog level one long-course meet in the 100m breaststroke, Laura knew she needed a personal best and to beat one minute 14.77 seconds to qualify for the British Championships.
From the starting signal the spectators knew they were watching something special as Laura rose to the challenge, leaving the rest of the field struggling to keep pace.
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Laura extended her lead to almost five metres at the finish.
Laura clocked 1:12.82 to qualify for the British Championships – which also double as the Commonwealth Games Trials – in style.
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Karen Woodhouse, vice-chairman of Norwich Swan, said: 'As she realised her achievement, Laura's first thought was to turn and wave to her Swan team-mates who were loudly celebrating her success.
'This monumental achievement means that Laura is now nationally ranked second for her age (16 years at end 2014) in the 100m breaststroke.'
Following that success Laura took to her marks in the 50m breaststroke and sprinted hard to clock 33.41 seconds to beat the British Championships qualification mark by almost half a second.
Her qualification marks the first time that Norwich Swan has ever had a swimmer reach the British Championships.
Do you know someone local who has achieved national sporting recognition? Contact sports reporter David Freezer on 01603 772418 or david.freezer@archant.co.uk
