Medal haul for Sheffield Hallam athletes

Sheffield Hallam University's elite sportsmen and women are celebrating one of the biggest medal tallies after bagging 11 gold medals, three silvers and four bronze at the British Universities & Colleges Sports (BUCS) Championships 2016.

The BUCS Championships came to a conclusion on Sunday evening at the English Institute for Sport in Sheffield. Sheffield Hallam's swimming team won eight gold medals with Rio 2016 hopeful, Max Litchfield retaining his 400m freestyle title as well as winning the 200m individual medley.

Max also broke the BUCS record in the 400m individual medley event and is now working towards preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympic trials in eight weeks' time.

"It's great to race for the University, it's a different environment and a great opportunity for us as students," said Max [20], a sport and exercise science student at Sheffield Hallam. 

"There's no other city in the country that can rival Sheffield's sporting pedigree so it was great to be in front of a home crowd." - Max Litchfield

"This weekend has definitely helped to build my confidence ahead of the trials. I got some good results and my mid-season training has been going well so I'm hoping to build on that."

Swimmer Ellie Rosslyn also took gold in the 100m freestyle while Rebecca Turner won silver and bronze in the 200m and 50m freestyles and Lizzie May took silver in the 100m freestyle.

The 4 x 100m women's free relay won bronze taking the swimming team's medal tally to the highest it's ever been in a BUCS championship, with the team finishing in the top five out of over 100 institutions.

The Sheffield Hallam boxing team also recorded huge successes after winning three golds, a silver and a bronze medal between them while the climbing team won three of the four gold medals available.

Dan Porter, head of sport services for Sheffield Hallam, said: "We have seen an unbelievable showcase of University sport this weekend which has seen Sheffield Hallam win one of the biggest number of medals in a BUCS Championship. The teams and athletes performed and conducted themselves exceptionally and were an absolute credit to the University.

"The passion in every single performance and their support for one another as team members was very honourable and we're immensely proud of them. I'm very excited to see what the future holds for them."

BUCS has agreed a deal with the City of Sheffield to host the BUCS Nationals in Sheffield for a further three years. The agreement is signed in conjunction with a city partnership consisting of Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield City Council, Sheffield International Venues (SIV) and the University of Sheffield.

Sheffield Hallam will also host the BUCS Big Wednesday event on 16 March which sees the culmination of the team sport programme. 

The full list of results for Sheffield Hallam University is;

Trampolining: Tom Hewitt - Gold

Trampolining: Men’s Team - 6th place overall

Athletics: Seun Okome (High Jump) - Bronze

Boxing: Ryszard Lewicki (69-75kg) - Gold

Boxing: Nyasha Dzvoti (60-64kg) - Gold

Boxing: Arsalan Othman (52-56kg) - Gold

Boxing: Joe Moylan (65-69kg) - Silver

Boxing: Tommy Munday (56-60kg) - Bronze

Climbing: Tara Hayes (Women’s Individual)  - Gold

Climbing: Billy Ridal (Men’s Individual)  – Gold

Climbing: Women’s Team – Gold

Climbing: Men’s Team - 5th place overall

Swimming: Max Litchfield (400m freestyle, 400m individual medley & 200m individual medley) - Gold

Swimming: Ellie Rosslyn (100m freestyle) - Gold

Swimming: Rebecca Turner (200m freestyle) - Silver

Swimming: Lizzie May (100m freestyle) - Silver

Swimming: Rebecca Turner (50m freestyle) - Bronze

Swimming: Rebecca Turner, Maya Westlake, Abbie Houston and Sophie Davies (4 x 100m women's freestyle relay) - Bronze

For press information: Sarah Duce in the Sheffield Hallam University press office on 0114 225 4025 or email s.duce@shu.ac.uk