A TALENTED trio from Colchester Phoenix Swimming Club excelled at the European Down Syndrome Open Swimming Competition, in Southampton.

Holly Bocking, Mark Holmes and Helen Thompson were part of the England team that competed against teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Sweden, Spain, Russia and Estonia.

All three were aiming to get medals but also achieve qualifying times for the European Championships in Paris in October and got some impressive results.

Bocking won gold in the 25 metres butterfly and 50m breaststroke, silver in the 100m Individual Medley and bronze in the 100m breaststroke.

She now has six qualifying times for Paris: 50m backstroke, freestyle, and breaststroke and 100m backstroke, breaststroke and IM.

Thompson secured gold in the 100m backstroke and breaststroke, along with a bronze in 100m freestyle.

She also has six qualifying times for Paris: 50m backstroke, freestyle, and breaststroke and 100m backstroke, freestyle and breaststroke.

Both girls are achieving women’s qualifying times, despite still being Junior swimmers.

Holmes secured gold in the 100m breaststroke and relay, along with silver medals in the 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke, 50m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, 200m backstroke and 100m IM.

He is a more experienced campaigner, having represented his country many times over the years.

Holmes boasts 12 qualifying times for Paris in 50m and 100m butterfly, breaststroke freestyle and backstroke, 100m IM and 200m freestyle, backstroke and IM.

The difficulty for him will be in selecting the eight races he can swim in Paris.

Phoenix have thanked their coaches and Julie Jago for leading them so well along with the committee, who stepped in over the past year to keep the club running.

Phoenix enables the club's swimmers to have amazing opportunities and they should be proud of all their achievements.