Potter wins seven gold medals to spearhead Sutton Swimming Club's success

Bunker said he was impressed with the performances of all 43 Sutton swimmers who made the trip to the Harvey Hadden Centre in Nottingham.

Nine of them came away with a total of 21 medals for finishing in the top three of their age group. The medals comprised nine golds, four silvers and eight bronzes.

Bunker said: “In addition, we were well represented in the majority of the finals, secured new personal-best times (PBs) and achieved new regional qualification times.”

On an individual level, the show was stolen again by Ethan Potter, who won every event that he entered in the 12-year-olds’ age group.

A haul of seven golds, to add to his tally from the first weekend of the championships, plus several PBS, underlined that Potter is among the most talented swimmers in his age group in Britain at present.

For example, his winning time in the 400m freestyle was the second fastest by a 12-year-old boy in the country in the past 12 months, while his 400m individual medley time ranked him third in Britain.

He also landed golds in the 200m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke and 50m breaststroke, showing amazing versatility.

Another young Sutton swimmer to impress over the weekend was Thomas Swales, who bagged two golds in the ten-to-11-year-olds’ age category.

They came in the 50m and 100m breaststroke finals, which completed a clean sweep, having won the 200m breaststroke on the first weekend. He also added a silver medal in the 50m butterfly and finished fourth and fifth in the finals of the 50m backstroke and 400m freestyle respectively.

Sutton's other three silver medals were won by Sarah Holmes, for the 15-year-olds, and Evan Hawley, for the 13-year-olds.

Holmes was runner-up in the final of the 100m freestyle with a time that also earned her a silver in the overall seniors competition. She pocketed a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle too.

Hawley took silver in the final of the 100m breaststroke, missing out on gold by only 0.16 seconds.

The final day of the county championships takes place on Sunday, February 23.