Nick sets his sights on Rio

The 18-year-old from Swinton sped to gold at the Scottish National Short Course event in Edinburgh, winning the 1500m freestyle in a new personal best of 15:01.79 — the second fastest time set by a British swimmer over the distance this year.

Nick’s victory, by a whopping 5.5 seconds, sets him up nicely for his next major event, when he represents Britain in the Flanders Cup in Belgium next month.

The Wath Comprehensive student, who trains for five hours a day, also brought home a bronze medal from Edinburgh after finishing third in the 4x100m relay.

He also competed in the 400m freestyle, timing 3:50.92. That was enough to give him a highly creditable fourth place and the seventh fastest swim by a Brit over the distance in 2012. Nick also made the finals in the 200m and 400m individual medleys.

He’s now aiming even hight, according to dad Jez.

“Nick trains with the City of Sheffield club’s elite squad under Russ Barber and alongside Olympians Becky Turner, Ellie Faulkner and James Crisp and he’s really coming on strongly,” he said.