SWIMMING ace Tazmin Pugh finished third in Europe after impressing at the British Senior Championships and junior selection trials.

The 15-year-old from Pershore Swimming Club and Ellesmere College Titans qualified for nine events.

“This was my first experience of competing at a trials for international selection. I can learn from it and hopefully put it into practice when I travel to Lignano in Italy to compete for England juniors against teams from Russia, Germany and Italy in May.”

The junior trials were for June’s European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, and for August’s European Youth Olympic Festival in Georgia.

To maximise her chances of finishing in the top two places for selection, Pugh entered seven of the nine events she had qualified or received a special invite for.

She finished second in the 200m butterfly to 16-year-old Holly Hibbott (Stockport Metro) in a nail-biting finale, in which she was pipped to first place by 0.16 seconds.

However, Pugh did set a new regional record with 2:13.14 and climbed to fifth place in the European 15/16 year rankings.

Following the race, Pugh said: “I knew this event was probably my best chance of selection, having already made the Baku consideration time.”

Pugh now sits third in the European rankings. Competing in the 400m freestyle event, she finished fourth in the heats with a personal best of 4:22.74, although she was not able to improve on this in the evening’s finals.

Pugh swam superbly in the heats in the 100m butterfly in 1:01.78, marking a new PB and securing fourth seeding in the evening’s finals.

She went even quicker in the finals, finishing in 1:01.54 to take third place but climbing to eighth in the European 15/16 year rankings.

On the final day, Pugh set about the gruelling 400m individual medley in determined style to achieve a new personal best in the heats of 4:55.57.

She held on to second place in the final against her local rival from Redditch, Isobel Griffiths, racing to a new regional record of 4:53.24.

Pugh, who attended Pershore High School, climbed to ninth in the European 15/16 year rankings and is also ranked tenth in the 50m butterfly in Europe.