2023 EUROPEAN YOUTH OLYMPIC FESTIVAL
- Monday, July 24th – Friday, July 28th
- Maribor, Slovenia
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview
- Entries
- Recap #1/Recap #2
- Results
The final night of action at the 2023 European Youth Olympic Festival saw a British Age Record go down at the hands of Amelie Blocksidge.
14-year-old Blocksidge raced her way to the top of the girls’ 800m freestyle podium, hitting a time of 8:32.65 to grab the gold. That outing gave the Brit a healthy advantage over runner-up Vivien Jackl of Hungary who snagged silver in 8:34.84 while Spanish swimmer Alba Rubio Villoria rounded out the top three finishers.
Blocksidge’s effort not only tied the EYOF Record of 8:32.65 Turkey’s Beril Boeckler put on the books at the 2019 edition of the competition but it also checked in as a lifetime best for the teen.
Entering this competition, Blocksidge’s young career held a PB of 8:38.33, a time she registered at the British Swimming Championships this past April. That garnered the City of Salford swimmer as the national runner-up behind Freya Colbert there in Sheffield.
At the time of the performance, Blocksidge was 13 years of age and her time established a new Age Record en route to putting up the first sub-8:40 time of her career.
Her 8:32.65 time here in Maribor entered Blocksidge now brings the British Age Record for 14-year-olds into entirely new territory, inching her toward the 8:30 threshold. She represents Great Britain’s 14th-fastest female in history in the event at just 14 years of age.
Holding 32’s the whole way is a huge skill, once she gets older and grows a bit more strength she’ll be a major force on the world stage. Her next target should be 8:21 at next years trials, the time it took Katie Ledecky to qualify for the Olympics at the same age of 15.