City of Bradford Swimming Club ace wins as progress goes on
GINA Warrior has been doing City of Bradford Swimming Club proud for years, and she has the world at her fingertips at just 18 years of age.
The backstroke specialist has been one to watch in British swimming circles for a while now, and she was a deserving winner of the Amateur Sportswoman of the Year prize at the 2025 Active Bradford Sports Awards, which were held at Valley Parade a fortnight ago.
Speaking to the T&A backstage at the event, Warrior said: “I’m definitely pleased with how I’ve progressed during my time with City of Bradford.
“I came to the club just at a Yorkshire standard, so to have succeeded and now be at British Championships, alongside Olympians in races, I’d never have thought I’d get to that level.
“I’m a backstroker, but I also compete in IM (individual medley), which is all four strokes, so I’m unbelievably proud of how far I’ve come as a swimmer.”
Warrior has won medals galore competing in backstroke, such a hard specialism to master.
Asked what drew her to it, she said: “It’s mainly my underwater strength.
“I use all the 15 metres under water that you’re allowed after the start and each turn.
“At the Regional Championships that have just gone, I was a body length in front of everyone, just because of my underwater.”
City of Bradford Swimming Club regularly takes scores of juniors to regional and national events, with Warrior usually one of their oldest competitors.
She takes real pride in helping her younger team-mates through tough times, saying: “If it’s say, their first Regional Championships, I can take them to one side.
“I’ll sit down with them and just try and boost their confidence, just reminding them how many times they’ve raced this race and smashed it in training.
“They’ll have done it in smaller competitions too, so it’s just about getting them to use those nerves in a positive way.”
But Warrior knows she is not the finished article herself yet, and she hailed coaches Andy Pearce and Sarah Fisher, who train the club’s swimmers on the Bradford Aquatics Competition programme.
The teenager said: “They have gone above and beyond with me.
“I’m training under Andy at the moment, who goes through my technique and breaks it down for me, he builds training plans suited to me specifically, as well as ones for the 30-odd other swimmers he has in the squad.
“He’s very swimmer-specific, but he knows exactly what he’s talking about more generally too.”
Just breaking down what she has done over the last year, Warrior said: “I’m regional 50m and 100m backstroke champion and I finalled at the Winter Nationals.
“I also have one Aquatics GB qualifying time for this summer and four other Swim England national qualifying times, also for this summer.
“Hopefully going forward, I can medal, or at least final, at those Aquatics GB Next Gen Championships in Sheffield.”
