Huntly para swimmer joins the elite at the Para Swimming World Series in Aberdeen
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A TEENAGER from Huntly is competing in the prestigious Para Swimming World Series in Aberdeen next week.
Tegan Davidson (15) will swim in the 100m and 50m freestyle in the event which includes a British Para-Swimming Meet.
The teenager, a fourth year pupil at The Gordon Schools trains twice a week at Huntly Amateur Swimming Club and recently secured a place with the University of Aberdeen Performance squad and travels weekly to train with them at the Aquatics Centre at Aberdeen Sports Village where the competition is being held.
Tegan also trains once a month with the Scottish Para team in Stirling and met qualification times for the Aberdeen event after a silver medal winning 50m butterfly swim with them, under her home club banner, in Swansea in December.
Tegan has pseudoachondroplasia, which affects her limbs and joints but became a member of Huntly Amateur Swimming Club in February 2016 and is coached by Ivan Anderson.
She was classified as a para swimmer by October of 2016 and in October 2019 was invited to train with the Scottish squad.
Tegan said: "Ivan pushes me to achieve the best I can but recognises my limitations too.
"I'm excited to be going to such a big event and it's great that it is in Aberdeen. I enjoy my swimming but also the social life that comes with it, meeting other people with similar disabilities."
Some of the highest calibre para swimmers from across the globe will be at the meet from Thursday, February 17 to Sunday 20, including Conner Morrison, 23, from Turriff, who reached the finals of the Men’s S14 100m Breaststroke at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics and swam for the national squad in the European Para Championships in Dublin in 2018 and Madeira in 2021.
Performance squad coach, Gregor McMillan, said: “It is fantastic to be hosting this event at the Aquatics Centre as it will attract the absolute elite of para swimmers to Aberdeen. We have some new para-athletes currently coming through our programme with sights set on the Paralympics 2028.”
