A Suffolk school student is celebrating his swimming success at the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS) National Swimming Finals, where he was named a national champion.

The Abbey School student Tom Beagley won the gold medal in the U11 50m breaststroke at the IAPS National Swimming Finals at the K2 Leisure Centre, Crawley, on Saturday May 19, with a time of 40.20 seconds. Tom was named national champion ahead of Northwood Prep and Latymer Prep students, who followed in second and third places.

A dedicated swimmer, 11-year-old Tom is coached by Donovan Graham twice a week as a member of The Abbey swimming team and also trains six times a week with the Deben Swimming Club, including two early mornings before school.

Tom is the current Deben club champion for 10-year-old boys and won six medals at the Suffolk County Swimming Championships. He is also a member of The Abbey biathlon team who recently won bronze at the National Schools Biathlon Championship at Crystal Palace.

Tom will next be competing at the Eastern Region Championships in Norwich in June, where he has qualified to compete in 100m and 200m breaststroke.

The Abbey U11 relay team also qualified for the IAPS finals, coming eighth overall with a time of 1.12.24, knocking an impressive four seconds off their seed time.

Donovan Graham, swimming coach at The Abbey, said: “It was a very exciting day to watch with schools competing from all over the country. Tom and the rest of The Abbey team performed brilliantly, displaying the results of a lot of hard work.”