Clare makes a splash for Great Britian in Italy

Clare Williamson was one of 50 swimmers representing GB in Riccione on the Italian Adriatic coast from June 4-17. She competed in the swimming category, which was filled with more than 10,000 competitors from around the world.

Williamson, who trains at Westgate Leisure Centre with remote personal trainer Glen Christiansen and is a member of Bognor Regis Swimming Club, secured a place in the top seven in all her five events. She won fifth place in the 50m butterfly, sixth in the 200m backstroke and seventh in the 50m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley.

She said: “I was delighted with my results. Not only did I do personal best times in all the events, but I also pushed myself up the world rankings in my age group 55-59 – from 20th all the way to sixth in one instance.

“I was also pleased as I entered with varying distances and strokes and still managed to maintain a good result across the board, so I’m very happy.”

Sussex Martletts also entered a women’s relay team both freestyle and medley and came 13th in both.

Events took place in both the indoor and outdoor 50m pools with 2,400 individuals also taking part in the 3k open water sea swim, 1,400 waterpolo players, 580 synchronised swimmers and 270 divers also competing.

The next World Championships take place in Montreal in 2014, with the Europeans in Eindhoven in September 2013.