Shropshire: Former Ellesmere College student in swimming World Champs

Hector Pardoe took sixth place in the World Aquatics Marathon World Cup 10km swim, held in Setubal in Portugal and will now be competing in 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka in Japan in July.

The race in Portugal was ultimately won by Andrea Manzi from Italy, but Hector was once again the highest British finisher across the events and the former Whitchurch Wasps swimmer is looking to improve on his 11th-place finish in the 2022 World Championships.

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Hector is looking forward to the challenge as he hopes to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris after representing Great Britain in the 2020 games in Tokyo.

He said: "It was amazing to qualify for my second World Championships, and it’s a huge boost of confidence looking towards next year’s Paris 2024 Olympics."

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Hector is currently training in Loughborough where he is part of the British Swimming World Class Programme.

He joined Whitchurch Wasps Swimming Club aged five before gaining a Swimming Scholarship to Ellesmere College Titans Performance Programme a year later.

In 2018 he became one of the youngest male swimmers, at the age of 17, to be selected to represent GB at the Senior level, when he competed at the Glasgow European Championships.