2021 BUCS SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, November 19th – Sunday, November 21st
- Ponds Forge, Sheffield, England
- SCM (25m)
- Event Site
- Entries
The British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Short Course Championships are fast-approaching, scheduled for November 19th-21st at Ponds Forge in Sheffield. The event marks the BUCS’ first competition of the 2021-22 swim season and has historically been one of the largest events in terms of the number of entrants.
Since at least 2015 the same three schools have placed in the same positions in the overall meet points tally, with Loughborough capturing the trophy each year followed by Stirling and Edinburgh.
And it doesn’t look like Loughborough will be backing down anytime soon, with the squad now fueled by new team members Felix Auboeck, Andreas Vazaios and Louise Hansson.
Former Michigan Wolverine Auboeck, who represents Austria internationally, joined Loughborough as a student-athlete in September of last year, while two-time Greek Olympian Vazaios and Swedish national record holder Hansson also began training there around the same time. Vazaios raced for NC State while Hansson was a USC Trojan in her U.S. college swimming career.
For this BUCS competition, the trio of newcomers will make their presence known over the 3-day affair, with each taking on a packed schedule.
Vazaios is set to race a monster docket of 8 events including the 50m/100m back, 50m/100m free, 50m/100m/200m fly and the 200m IM. Hansson has the 50m/100m back, 50m/100m fly and 50m/100m free ahead of her while Auboeck is slated to swim the 100m/200m/400m/800m free and 400m IM events.
For Hansson and Vazaios in particular, their presence here in Sheffield also carries some implications for the International Swimming League (ISL) season 3 playoffs.
Loughborough confirmed to SwimSwam that Vazaios will miss playoff match #2 while Hansson will only be racing on day 1 of her 2nd playoff match before heading to BUCS. She plans on then returning to Eindhoven, however.
Another recognizable name among the BUCS entrants is U.S. Olympian Andrew Wilson. 28-year-old Wilson became the first-ever NCAA Division III swimmer to qualify for an Olympic Games, ultimately medaling as a member of the men’s medley relay in Tokyo this summer.
Wilson now races for Oxford while attending grad school there. He’s set to race the 50m/100m fly, 50m/100m breast and 200m IM events.
BUCS is very different from NCAAs, and competing at the BUCS champs definitely doesn’t mean a swimmer is training seriously. The top level is very high, but there is then quite a steep drop off.
Wait is Wilson still trying to compete internationally?
Probably not since he’s in grad school with a career path in mind, but love to see “retired” pros continue to compete!
Loughborough Uni(Not NC) may have won medals in Tokyo if they took Olympics as serious as BUCS!
i thought andrew wilson retired??? ANYWAYS HE’S BACK IN THE POOL LETS F’ING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I think he is, at least with trying to compete at the high international level. Could just be doing this for the fun of it. He hasn’t been tested by USADA in Q3 2021, suggesting he isn’t in the testing pool anymore.
ooooh okay that makes sense!!
Andrew Wilson is just teasing us by competing in every level of swimming except NCAA D1. I wanted to see compete in March as a Texas Longhorn
funny enough, before his year and half (i think) long period as a pro dawg, he swam for the longhorns outside of the DIII season
What if I told you I swam with Wilson when he was a longhorn?? 🤔
FOR REAL??
This is pretty darn cool