SIBLINGS Martha and Ellie Duley were in fine form after flying the flag for Colchester Swimming Club at the British Championships.

The duo were the only Colchester SC swimmers to qualify for the meet at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, in Sheffield.

They did the club proud, after competing alongside the very best of British swimmers including Olympians Adam Peaty, Siobhan Marie O'Connor and Ben Proud.

Colchester SC head coach Michelle Young said: "I'm very proud of both girls, competing, obtaining new personal best times and making finals is quite some achievement.

"There are very few swimmers who have the ability to compete at this high level.

"The club is very proud that they were flying our club flag so high."

The Duley girls qualified for two events each, with Martha competing in the 50 metres and 100m backstroke and Ellie the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle.

Martha, who celebrates her 18th birthday on Saturday, swam in the first event of the opening day, the 100m backstroke.

She was just off her personal best (PB) in the heats after clocking one minutes 03.82 seconds, missing out on the Target Tokyo final (for ages 18-20) by one place.

Ellie, 16, then competed in the 50m butterfly, finishing just outside her PB with a time of 28.81s.

The following day, Ellie competed in the 50m freestyle and was determined to perform better than the previous day.

She swam a fantastic 0.32-second PB to break the 27-second barrier, finishing in 26.93s and placing 13th in the junior age group (14-17).

With Martha currently studying for her A-levels and Ellie her GCSEs, the girls travelled back home for school and college work, before returning to Sheffield on Saturday.

Martha competed in the 50m backstroke, buoyed by the disappointment of missing out on the 100m final earlier in the week.

She was just 1/100th of a second outside her PB in the morning's heats session, clinching her a spot in the Target Tokyo final.

In a very exciting evening finals session, Martha swam a new PB of 29.82s, to finish in seventh place.

Buoyed by their performance at Ponds Forge, the girls are now back in training for this weekend's East Region Championships.