Scarborough swimmer Aaron Gilson produced a series of standout performances on the European stage after competing at the recent European Aquatics Championships in Lublin, Poland.
The 26-year-old, who swims for Kingfishers Swimming Club, represented Great Britain in the masters category and took on Europe’s elite breaststroke swimmers across the 50m, 100m and 200m events.
Gilson returned home with a string of impressive results, including two lifetime best performances and a top-10 European finish.
In the 50m breaststroke, the Kingfishers swimmer clocked a lifetime best time to win his heat, placing 11th overall in a highly competitive field. He followed that with another personal best in the 100m breaststroke, finishing third in his heat and 12th overall.
His strongest result came in the 200m breaststroke, equalling his lifetime best time to finish eighth in the timed final and secure a place among the top 10 in Europe.
Reflecting on his performances, Gilson said:
“I went into the championships with no real expectations, just focusing on racing well and enjoying the occasion, so to end up swimming two lifetime bests and fishing inside the top 10 was a really nice surprise.”
The results mark a significant milestone in a swimming journey that began locally nearly two decades ago. Gilson first joined Kingfishers Swimming Club at the age of eight in 2008, progressing through the club’s ranks before leaving in 2018 after being awarded a college swimming scholarship in the United States.
During the 2018–2019 season, he competed across the United States and Canada while studying in Oregon, gaining valuable international racing experience. He then returned to the UK to study at the University of Stirling, where he spent four years from 2019 to 2023 training at the National Swimming Academy.
At Stirling, Gilson trained alongside some of the best swimmers in the country, working under elite-level coaches in one of the country’s leading high-performance environments.
He returned to Kingfishers full-time in 2023 and now combines his own competitive ambitions with coaching duties at the club. Gilson volunteers as a poolside coach with the performance squads and is also responsible for the club’s dry-land and gym training programmes.
“I see myself as a mentor as much as a coach — I want the swimmers to learn from my experiences,” he added, as his success in Poland will no doubt continue to inspire swimmers at his home club.
Kingfishers Swimming Club is a registered charity, run by volunteers. Anyone interested in joining as a swimmer or volunteer can find more information on the club’s website https://kingfishersswimmingclub.org.uk/ and is warmly encouraged to get in touch: secretary@kingfishersswimmingclub.org.uk
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