News

Winning Students Update Summer 2019

There was global success for our scholars over the last period, with a number of scholars representing the programme at World Championships and other international competitions.

Find out more in our latest round-up…

World Universities Summer Games

Nine Winning Students athletes took on the world’s best student athletes this summer after being selected for the World Universities Summer Games in Naples.

Badminton

Adam Hall and Julie MacPherson (both Open University in Scotland) reached the semi-finals of the mixed doubles at the 2019 Austrian Open. Hall then went on to reach the semi-finals of the men’s doubles at the Orleans Masters and Finnish Open with fellow Winning Student, Alex Dunn (University of Strathclyde). The trio went on to represent Scotland at the TOTAL BWF World Championships in Switzerland with Hall teaming up with Macpherson in the mixed doubles and Dunn in the men’s event.

Christopher and Matthew Grimley (both Open University in Scotland) scored their first podium result in senior international competition as they won men’s doubles silver at the Portuguese International.

Holly Newall (Open University in Scotland) scored one of the best results of her career as she secured a women’s singles silver medal at the Lithuanian International.

Curling

Team Jackson, including skip Sophie Jackson, Mili Smith (both University of Stirling), Sophie Sinclair (Edinburgh Napier University) and Naomi Brown (Edinburgh College) won their first ever Scottish Championship. The team went on to claim fourth place at the World University Winter Games in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, before finishing in a respectable tenth at their first Women’s World Curling Championship, in Denmark.

Ross Whyte (University of Stirling) enjoyed a successful World University Winter Games as he inspired Team GB’s men’s team to a bronze medal.

Whyte’s fellow Stirling athlete, Bobby Lammie (University of Stirling), added to his growing list of accolades with Team Mouat, skipped by WS graduate Bruce Mouat, as they won the men’s Scottish Championships. The team then finished sixth at the World Championship in Canada.

Football

Twelve former Winning Students scholars were part of the first ever Scotland Women’s National Team to play at a FIFA Women’s World Cup as they took on some of the world’s best players in France.

Lauren Davidson, Emily Mutch, Jamie-Lee Napier (all Edinburgh College) and Amy Muir (University of Edinburgh) were part of the Scotland U19 squad at the Women’s U19 European Championships which were held in Scotland. The team narrowly lost out 2-1 to eventual winners France following an injury-time goal in the opening round of the tournament, before defeats to Norway and the Netherlands.

Golf

Hazel MacGarvie (University of Stirling) reached the last 16 of the Women’s Amateur Championship at Royal County Down and, following a number of strong performances including her recent victory in the St Rule Trophy, was selected for the GB and Ireland team to compete in the prestigious Vagliano Trophy. MacGarvie enjoyed a brilliant event, winning 3.5 points out of a possible 4, remaining undefeated in both singles and partner matches. MacGarvie’s Stirling teammate, and fellow Winning Students scholar, Chloe Goadby, was also named as a squad reserve for the match against the Continent of Europe.

Hockey

Emily Dark (University of St Andrews), Jennifer Eadie, Kate Holmes (both University of Glasgow) and Charlotte Watson (University of Dundee) were all part of the Scotland squad that won the Women’s EuroHockey Championship II in Glasgow, securing a return to the top flight of European hockey.

In the men’s game, Cameron Golden and Aidan McQuade (both Abertay University) are currently playing for Scotland in the Men’s EuroHockey Championship in Antwerp after the side won promotion back to the top tier in last year’s competition.

Judo

In what has been a breakthrough year, including medals at five Junior European Cups, Josie Steele (Heriot-Watt University) has been selected to represent GB at both the Junior European (September) and Junior World (October) Championships this year and has reached number eight in the junior world rankings of the -57kg category.

Orienteering

Alex Carcas (University of Edinburgh) and Jonathan Crickmore (Heriot-Watt University) have been rewarded for their impressive seasons by being selected for the British team to compete at the 2019 International Orienteering Federation World Cups 3 and 4 in Switzerland and China.

Rowing

Polly Swann’s (University of Edinburgh) return to top level competition is almost complete as the Olympic silver medallist has been selected for the upcoming World Rowing Championships in Linz Ottensheim, Austria.

Meanwhile, there were world titles for four of Swann’s University of Edinburgh teammates, as Josh Armstrong (men’s quad), Alex Rankin, Lydia Currie (both women’s four) and Lucy Glover (women’s quad) all won gold in their respective events at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Sarasota, USA.

Swimming

Duncan Scott’s (University of Stirling) ascent to the top of world swimming continued at the World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju as he claimed bronze in the 200m individual medley before going on to anchor Team GB to gold in the 4x100m medley relay. Scott swam the freestyle leg of the relay, producing the second fastest split of all time, coming in at 46.14s to defeat the reigning champions from the USA.

Meanwhile, David Cumberlidge (Heriot-Watt University) and Gemma Macarthur (University of Edinburgh) lived up to their reputations at the highest level of student sport after winning won gold and bronze respectively in the men’s 50m freestyle and women’s 10m platform events at the World Universities Summer Games in Naples.

Tennis

Maia Lumsden made history at the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham as she became the first ever GB university player to win a WTA main draw match in the first round before losing out to world number 28, Caroline Garcia, in her next match. Lumsden’s victory saw her climb to a career-high ranking of 266 in the world.

Triathlon

University of Stirling triathlete, Sophia Green, is set to take on the world’s best later this month after qualifying for the ITU Junior World Triathlon Grand Final in Lausanne, Switzerland. Green qualified following silver medal performances at the British Super Series event in Wales and ETU Triathlon Junior European Cup in Latvia.

There were also impressive results for Green’s Stirling teammates, Cameron Main and Guy Evans-Haggerty, who finished second and third in a highly competitive field at the Super Series event in Wales.

Individual Scholars

European Silver Medallist, Kayleigh Haggo (University of the West of Scotland), broke another race running world record in the 400m at the Scottish Athletics Championships. The athlete, from Maybole also took gold in the 100m event.

Karate scholar, Jordan Szafranek (Edinburgh Napier University) rounded off another successful year by winning his 12th British & National title.