Kian Gadsby
Some of the best individual athletes at the University of Nottingham travelled north to Sheffield to compete in BUCS Nationals.
They returned home triumphant with a glut of gold medals. Specifically, 14 National titles were secured by UoN stars across Athletics, Badminton, Fencing, Karate and Swimming.
Although every medal deserves it’s own celebrations, at Impact we have looked over the scores and picked out some of the best stories from a dominant weekend.
Ali Al Mubarak Brings Athletics Well-Deserved Glory
Shot-Put sensation Ali Al Mubarak produced a sublime performance to secure the National title on his BUCS Nationals debut. His throw of 17.35m was over a metre clear of the competition, stylishly sealing his place at the top of the podium.
This secured the medal that UoN Athletics deserved for their displays across the meet. The Women’s 4x200m relay team set a blistering club record time and were only a tenth of a second away from clinching a bronze medal, while a variety of other personal bests and club records were shattered on what was a positive weekend for the Athletics team.
Badminton Bring Back Women’s Doubles Gold
For the second year running, UoN Badminton returned from BUCS Nationals with the Women’s Doubles title, as Abi Hong and Chloe Davies upgraded their bronze medal from last time to gold.
The Green and Gold pair defeated the University of Derby’s duo of Jessica Allen and Abbie Smith in a three set thriller to avenge the semi-final defeat of team-mates Katherine Arksey and Lucy Dodd. Askey and Dodd themselves recovered to claim Bronze, meaning that medal ended up in UoN hands for the fourth year in a row and that both Nottingham teams to make the main draw found themselves on the podium.
There were also medals won on the mens side, as Luke Salwey and Jacob Weekes secured a silver medal after a brilliant run to the final.
Fencing Find Form on Biggest Stage
The UoN Fencing team have endured a difficult season so far. Although the women enjoyed an undefeated season and appear set to become back to back National champions, the Men’s team surrendered their league title to Stirling University and have suffered some frustrating defeats.
But their performances at BUCS Nationals have proven that they can shine on the biggest stage.
They won three individual titles, more than they did in their all-conquering campaign last time around, as Will Broughton won the Mixed Foil and Isabella-Andreea Niculai and Louis Taiwo picked up medals in their respective categories in the Epee. The team also won a bronze medal, with 2025 champion Rachael Lever narrowly missing out against Niculai in the semi-final.
Such an impressive weekend will have filled the team with confidence that they can continue to earn victories ahead of the run in. Both teams will put this form to the test in the National Championships quarter-finals, with matches set to take place on 25th February as they look to return to BUCS Big Wednesday to defend their titles.
Kian Gadsby
Featured image courtesy of BUCS Sport via Flickr. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of BUCS Sport via Flickr. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of BUCS Sport via Flickr. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 3 courtesy of BUCS Sport via Flickr. No changes were made to this image.
