A STUDENT from Daneshill School recently took part in the British Modern Biathlon Championships and came out on top.

Saffia Rougier took gold in the U10 Biathlon Champion 2017 with fellow Daneshill student Nicholas Thomas finishing third in the U11s competition.

This year’s British Modern Biathlon Championships took place at Tudor Grange Leisure Centre in Solihull with nearly 800 athletes competing.

Modern biathlon is a multi-discipline sporting environment which involves swimming and running with distances varying between age groups.

The youngest three age groups swim 50m and run 800m with the U13, U14 and Masters Classes swimming 100m and running 1600m and the U15, U16, U17, U19, Junior and Senior classes swimming 200m and running 1,600m.

Ahead of the finals Saffia had to qualify for the championships at preliminary qualifying competitions that were held across the country between September and October.

Representatives from Daneshill, including Saffia and Nicholas, had incredibly hard getting ready for the competition, consisting of early morning, evening and weekend running and swimming sessions.

But the hard work paid off for Saffia, who also swims for the Basingstoke Blue Fins, as she showed her ability in the water with an outstanding 800m race, in which she took 14 seconds off her previous personal best.

Saffia’s times were 800m in 2.55 and the 50m swim in 34.54. She is one of the best swimmer’s for her age group in the country at present

Year 6 student Nicholas also accomplished two personal bests, with times of 2.31 in the 800m and 34.99 in the 50m swim.

Further superb achievements came from Fechi Okafor in Year 7 and Chi Chi Okafor in Year 8 who both finished in 11th place and Isla Lock in Year 6 who achieved 26th position.