East Lancashire para swimmer Tom Hamer has missed out on a Commonwealth Games medal.

Tom, from Rawtenstall, took part in the men’s 200m Freestyle S14 final on Wednesday evening and hoped to retain the gold medal he won on the Gold Coast in 2018.

Sadly, Tom was unavle to secure a medal and came sixth, three seconds off the lead.

His fellow team England swimmers Jordan Catchpole and Reece Dunn also competed for a medal but didn’t make the podium; they came fourth and fifth respectively.

The race was won by 18-year-old Canadian competitor Nicholas Bennett who achieved a Commonwealth record time of 1:54.97.

 

 

Tom competes in the S14 class which is for athletes with "intellectual disabilities"; in an interview with the Lancashire Telegraph in 2014, Tom said he struggles with reading and spelling.

Former Alder Grange pupil Tom learnt to swim in a 22.5m long pool in his hometown of Rawtenstall before joining Burnley Aquatics aged 10, and then going on to compete internationally.

On his international para-swimming debut, he took silver in the S14 200m Freestyle, aged just 15, before topping the podium on the Gold Coast four years later, winning gold in a world record time of 1.55.88.

In an interview 23-year-old Tom said the Commonwealth Games will always be “close to his heart” and this Games was never about making the podium.

He said: "The Commonwealth Games will always be close in my heart because that was my international debut in 2014.

“To me, these next two years, I'm not trying to treat it as getting on that podium, that will happen and take care of itself.

"For me it's all about getting my head right and after being on that scene for eight years, I've always done it because I enjoyed it.

“I've never seen it as a job and I'm trying to get back into that mindset of being young Tom again and enjoying it."

Lancashire contestants have been putting the county on the map these Games.

This week Preston weightlifter Sarah Davies won gold at her event.

Today (August 4) Freckleton gymnast Alice Leaper will be representing Team England in the rhythmic gymnastics competition.

She will perform four routines, each one lasting 90 seconds; each routine uses a different apparatus - hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon.

You can watch coverage of the Commonwealth Games on the BBC.