Wheelchair fencing Paralympic gold-medallists Dimitri Coutya and Piers Gilliver have described an innovative wooden-frame training chair, designed by engineers at the University of Bath in collaboration with British Fencing, as a gamechanger for their sport. The SwordSeat™ – a simple six-piece slot-together design which can be built using minimal tools for around £150 worth of plywood – aims to make wheelchair fencing affordable and accessible to many more clubs and participants. It received its official...
It was a golden start to 2025 for the University of Bath-based British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association as their athletes enjoyed double delight at the IBSF World Cup in Winterberg, Germany. Brad Hall, Taylor Lawrence, Arran Gulliver and Greg Cackett made history on Sunday, becoming the first non-German team to win four-man bobsleigh gold at Winterberg in 13 years. The Brits were fastest on both runs as they clocked a combined time of 1:48.07 to...
Double Paralympic Champion Dimitri Coutya, who trains at the University of Bath, has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours 2025 for his services to fencing. The wheelchair fencer enjoyed an outstanding Paris 2024 Paralympic Games which saw him win gold in both the Category B foil and epee, as well as silver and bronze in the team events with Piers Gilliver and Oliver Lam-Watson. [caption id="attachment_71316" align="alignright" width="292"] David McNulty received his...
The University of Bath student netball club, one of the strongest university set-ups in the UK, has agreed a new partnership with match-ball suppliers Rhino. All squads will use Rhino’s Vortex Pro match ball and the club will also play a key advisory role in the development of future netballs. Anya Le Monnier, University Performance Netball Head Coach at the University of Bath, said: “We are really excited to be partnering with Rhino, they have...
Olympic and Paralympic success in Paris is just one of the highlights of a truly monumental year of sport at the University of Bath. World Cup victories, European crowns, groundbreaking international debuts, emotional reunions, national accolades, innovative new partnerships and an extensive gym refurbishment are also among the many high points from an action-packed 2024. In total athletes brought 93 senior international medals back to their Team Bath training base, 17 of which were secured...
Double Olympian Jamie Cooke, who became World and European modern pentathlon champion while training at the University of Bath, is returning to Pentathlon GB as its new Head of Performance. Will Brown is also joining the National Governing Body as Chief Executive Officer at the start of the LA 2028 Olympic cycle and a new era for the sport as it transitions from horse riding to obstacle course racing (OCR). Cooke, who competed at Rio...
Team Bath Netball duo Alanna Pullen and Phoebe Maslen have been named in a 16-strong England U21 squad that will tour Australia in the new year. Former Blue & Gold stars Sophie Kelly and Jayda Pechova – who, like Pullen, are University of Bath student-athletes and supported by sporting scholarships – are also in an exciting squad that will face the host nation and New Zealand during a tournament taking place in Canberra from 17-23...
Team Bath judoka won three medals following some fantastic performances at the 2024 British Judo Championships in Coventry. Roxy Proctor fought superbly to reach the women’s -63kg final where she faced Team GB Olympian Lucy Renshall. The Team Bath judoka continued to impress as she took the former world number one to golden score before narrowly losing out by three shidos (penalties) to one. Sidney Tancock and Chemistry for Drug Discovery student Anika Rabi both...
Freya Anderson added to her international medal collection when the University of Bath-based swimming star anchored Aquatics GB to women’s 4x100m medley relay silver at the 2024 World Aquatics Short Course Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The Bath Performance Centre swimmer (pictured top, right) dived in for the freestyle leg in third place after strong swims from team-mates Abbie Wood, Angharad Evans and Eva Okaro. She then clawed back China in the closing stages to touch...
Brad Hall and Taylor Lawrence bagged University of Bath-based British Bobsleigh’s first medal of the IBSF World Cup season when they won silver in Sigulda on Sunday. It was the team’s first two-man medal since January 2023 and came eight days after the duo had finished fourth in the season opener in Altenberg. Hall and Greg Cackett were also just off the podium in the first race of a double-header weekend in Sigulda. “It’s great...
