The British Universities and College Sports Indoor Championships 2024 took place over the weekend in Sheffield.
Universities from across the British Isles came together to compete in the likes of athletics, swimming and fencing to name a few, with Loughborough coasting to victory in the competition as they looked to win a staggering 43rd competition in a row; a mind-boggling run which dates as far back to the birth of the competition.
However, the competition held in Sheffield has thrown up a few surprises, with the University of Nottingham being unable to replicate their successes from the last three competitions coming in as runner-up, as they finished in a lowly 8th place.
As for the Sheffield Universities, Hallam found themselves sandwiched between Warwick and Cardiff in 18th place, whilst Sheffield finished four places above their noisy neighbours in 14th, whilst also topping Durham, who like Nottingham, did not live up to their high expectations of top three places in the last five years.
In regards to individual performances, records have been broken in Sheffield such as Keanna MacInnes beating her own 50m Butterfly Scottish record to 26.69, a staggering achievement from the University of Stirling representative.
Elsewhere, Ponds Forge also saw a record-breaking performance from Loughborough’s Conor Ferguson, who broke the BUCS record in the 50M backstroke.
But it was Loughborough University’s world champion swimmer Daniel Wiffen who stole the back pages from his brilliant performance. Coming off the back of two gold medals at the World Championships in Doha, Wiffen steamrolled his way to victory in the 1500m, with a staggering time of 14:42.05. The Englishman was able to beat his previous best at BUCS by 20 seconds. It was one of five records that were broken in what was a thrilling day of sport at Ponds Forge.
The competition’s finale, the men’s 4x200m saw the University of Sheffield impressively reach the final round with some of the country’s big-hitters, however were unable to compete with the likes of Loughborough who saw success in the event, coming first whilst Sheffield finished in sixth. The women’s event also saw Sheffield appear in the final, that time coming ahead of Cardiff and Nottingham at the pivotal moment to see themselves finish the event in an incredible fourth place.
The full lowdown of the table can be found here.
Featured Image Credit: @BUCSsport