Chorley swimmer Anna Hopkin MBE wins bronze award at European championship

Anna Hopkin MBE, 27, is currently taking part in the European Short Course Championships in Bucharest, Romania and she already secured a medal on its first day.

Running between Tuesday, December 5 and Sunday, December 10, 35 British Swimming athletes are taking part in the competition for the first time since 2019.

They will be hoping to beat their 2019 result of winning 11 medals and helping them along their way is the former Withnell Fold Primary School, St Michael's CE High School and Runshaw College pupil.

Yesterday (December 5), after personally qualifying third fastest for the 50m Freestyle final, Anna also went on to secure the bronze medal in the Women’s 4x50m Freestyle final as part of a Great British quartet.

Today (December 6), the Chorley star competed in the Women's 50m Freestyle final where she just missed out on the podium, coming in joint fourth place.

Speaking to British Swimming, Head Coach Bill Furniss said: “The European Short Course Championships are a great opportunity for us to assess where the athletes are at come the end of the first training block of Olympic year.

“The short-course aspect of the competition will allow us to collect valuable insight into our athletes’ performances and help them focus on developing their starts, turns, and finishing skills. The unique relay opportunities presented to us will also be crucial as we look to build on our ability in this area.

“It will also be a great opportunity to continue building team morale as we build towards the Olympic Games, with the team list combining our more experienced swimmers with some new faces to the senior team.”

Anna, who was appointed an MBE in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to swimming, first started to swim at Lodge Bank in Brinscall, the third-oldest surviving baths in the UK: these Edwardian baths were built by local mill owners, the Park family, as a gift to their workers.

Aged eight, she joined the Chorley Martins, then she became part of the Gallica Lancashire squad and moved to Blackburn Centurions.

Some career highlights include winning her first British Championship in 2017; winning bronze in the women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay at the 2018 Commonwealth Games; and winning four gold medals at the 2020 European Championships.

Anna also competed in her first Olympics in 2020, winning the gold medal for mixed 4 x 100 metre medley relay, together with Adam Peaty, James Guy and Kathleen Dawson.

Most recently, Anna won the gold medal at the 2023 British Swimming Championships in the 50 metres freestyle, for the third consecutive time.