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Tully Kearney

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Tully Kearney
Personal information
NationalityBritish
Born (1997-04-11) 11 April 1997 (age 27)
Nottingham, England
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Sport
SportSwimming
Strokesfreestyle, backstroke
ClubNational Performance Centre/City of Manchester Aquatics Swim Team/Boldmere Swimming Club
College teamManchester Metropolitan University
CoachGraeme Smith/Matt Walker/Ashley Cox
Medal record
Women's para swimming
Representing  Great Britain
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2019 London 50m freestyle S5
Gold medal – first place 2019 London 100m freestyle S5
Gold medal – first place 2019 London 200m freestyle S5
Gold medal – first place 2015 Glasgow 100m butterfly S9
Gold medal – first place 2015 Glasgow 400m freestyle S9
Gold medal – first place 2015 Glasgow 200m medley SM9
Gold medal – first place 2015 Glasgow 4 x 100-metre medley 34pts
Silver medal – second place 2015 Glasgow 100m backstroke S9
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Montreal 400m freestyle S10
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Glasgow 4x100 freestyle relay 34pts
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2018 Dublin 100m freestyle S5
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Dublin 50m freestyle S5

Tully Kearney (born 11 April 1997) is a British Paralympic swimmer. Kearney competes in the S5, SB4, SM5 classification for swimmers with physical disabilities. She has won medals in three IPC Swimming World Championships winning bronze in the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships, setting a British record; four golds, a silver and a bronze in the 2015 World Championships setting three European records, and three golds at the World Para Swimming Championships in 2019, setting three British records. She also won gold and bronze at the World Para Swimming European Championships in 2018. Kearney is a multiple British record and European record holder.

Personal history

Kearney was born in Nottingham, England in 1997 and grew up in Aldridge.[1][2] She was born with cerebral palsy (spastic diplegia) and developed generalised dystonia, a progressive neurological movement disorder, in her mid teens. These conditions primarily affect her lower limbs and also her left arm, shoulders and trunk control.[3] Kearney was further diagnosed with Scoliosis in 2019. She attended The Cooper and Jordan School in Aldridge, where one of her fellow pupils was future Paralympic gold medalist Ellie Simmonds.[2] She continued her education at the Royal Wolverhampton School.[4] Kearney studied for her A-Levels at The Streetly Academy.[5] She has graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in Physiology from Manchester Metropolitan University, where she is now studying for a Masters degree in Human Physiology. She is Patron of Dystonia UK and works tirelessly to raise awareness of this rare progressive neurological movement disorder.

Career history

Kearney began swimming at the age of eight, after being approached by a coach while she watched her older brother train at a local club.[2] She decided to take up swimming competitively after being inspired when Ellie Simmonds displayed her Paralympic medals at a school assembly.[3] Kearney joined Boldmere Swimming Club in 2010 and was coached by Ashley Cox.[3] Classified as a S10, SB9, SM10, at the age of 14 she was competing nationally in youth competitions winning gold in seven events at the DSE (Disability Sports Events) Championships in Sheffield.[6]

2011 also saw Kearney selected for her first international competition was at the 25th German Open Meet in Berlin. In her age group events she took seven medals, and followed this with silvers in and S10 200m and 400m freestyles and gold in the SM10 200m individual medley in the open age events.[2] The 2011/12 season saw Kearney selected as a World Class Development Funded Athlete, by British Disability Swimming, under the coaching of Nathan Hilton.[7] At the 2013 British International Disability Swim Championships held in Sheffield, Kearney twice broke the British record for the 100m S10 backstroke, during the heats and then again in the final.[8] She also recorded personal bests in three other events.[8] Her performance on that day won her a place in the British Team taking part in the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal.[8] At Montreal, Kearney entered five different events and won bronze in the Women's 400m Freestyle S10 behind France's Elodie Lorandi and Canada's Aurelie Rivard.[1][9]

I really feel that able-bodied sports and para-sports should be treated equally, and last night I really felt like they were.'[10]

– Kearney after winning her award as Junior Sportsperson of the Year at the Birmingham Sports Awards 2014.

An illness during British trials in 2014, saw Kearney miss out on a place for both the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow and the European Championships in Eindhoven.[11] She returned to swimming, competing in the National Paralympic Day swimming event at the London Aquatics Centre, winning the multi-classification 400m freestyle.[11] She followed this with being awarded Junior Sportsperson of the Year at the Birmingham Sports Awards 2014, an award special to her as it was contended by both able-bodied and parasport athletes.[10] In 2019 Kearney was named Birmingham Amateur Sportsperson of the Year and was awarded a Pride of Sport Award in recognition of her fight to return to competitive swimming following the sudden and significant progression of her Generalised Dystonia at the end of 2015 which led to her having to take a significant period of time out of the water and then having to learn to swim again.

In 2015 Kearney qualified to represent Great Britain at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships held in Glasgow. Due to her progressive disability, Kearney was reclassified before the trials as a S9, SB8, SM9 swimmer.[12] She was entered into seven events, including the freestyle relay and medley relay team events. She took home six medals in total, with golds in the medley relay, 100m butterfly (S9), 200m individual medley (SM9) and 400m freestyle (S9).[12] Kearney also finished second in the 100m backstroke S9, behind a world record breaking swim by Australia's Ellie Cole,[13] and took bronze in the freestyle relay.[14] Her gold in the 400m freestyle saw Kearney set a new European record with a time of 4:39.29, over ten seconds ahead of her silver placed rival, Nuria Marques Soto of Spain.[15] Kearney also set a European record in the 100m butterfly, recording a time of 1:09.04.[16] Her third European record was in the 200m individual medley in which she posted a time of 2:31.08.[17] She was Great Britain's highest medal earner at these championships and following this success was moved from the World Class Podium Potential programme to the Podium programme for the 2015/2016 season. Tully finished 2015 by making the final three athletes shortlisted for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year at the 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.[18]

In 2016 Kearney was selected for the Paralympic Games in Rio, but was forced to withdraw shortly before the games due to battling a significant progression of her Generalised Dystonia, coupled with an ongoing shoulder injury.

Kearney returned to the pool in 2017 and was reclassified at the British Para Swimming International Meet in April 2017 to the S7, SB6, SM7 due to this further progression in her disability.

In 2018 under the revised World Para Swimming Classification system Kearney was reclassified to the S5, SB4, SM5 classification and returned to international competition at the World Para Swimming European Championships in Dublin where she won gold in the S5 100 metre freestyle and bronze in the S5 50 metre freestyle. She ended the year ranked number 1 in the World in three events. In recognition of her success she was reinstated onto the World Class Podium Potential Programme for the 2018/2019 season.

In 2019 Kearney competed at the World Para Swimming World Championships in London where she became triple World Champion winning gold in the S5 50 metre freestyle, 100 metre freestyle and 200 m freestyle all in British record times. She again ended the year ranked number 1 in the World in these three events. In recognition of this success she was moved to the World Class Podium Programme for the 2019/2020 season.

References

  1. ^ a b "Kearney, Tully". paralympic.org. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d Evans, Gregg. "Teen Tully's set to Make a Big Splash" (pdf). boldmereswimmingclub.co.uk. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  3. ^ a b c Harris, Cath (2014). "Old club, new challenge" (pdf). Swimming Time. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  4. ^ "Tully Kearney to join British team at championships". walsalladvertiser.co.uk. 16 May 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Leap of Faith to help local children and young people like Tully". newlifecharity.co.uk. 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  6. ^ "Golden girl Kearney is in seventh heaven" (PDF). walsall Advertiser. 10 March 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  7. ^ "British Disability Swimming: 2011/2012 World Class Development – Funded Athlete List" (pdf). swimming.org. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  8. ^ a b c "Tully Kearney off to Canada". istudy.hk. 5 June 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  9. ^ "Women's 400m Freestyle S10 Final". paralympic.org. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  10. ^ a b Stacey, Alison (20 September 2014). "Birmingham Sports Awards 2014 – photos and winners from the big night at Villa Park". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  11. ^ a b Field, Pippa (1 September 2014). "Women's Aldridge swimmer Tully Kearney seizes her chance in Olympic pool". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  12. ^ a b Smith, Frank (23 July 2015). "Aldridge ace Tully's ready for Rio as she caps ace year with four World golds". walsalladvertiser.co.uk. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  13. ^ "Results – Women's 100m Backstroke S9 Final". IPC. 13 July 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  14. ^ "Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay 34pts" (PDF). IPC. 16 July 2015. Archived from the original (pdf) on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  15. ^ "Results – Women's 400m Freestyle S9 Final". IPC. 18 July 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  16. ^ "Results – Women's 100m Butterfly S9 Final". IPC. 17 July 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  17. ^ "Results – Women's 200m Individual Medley SM9 Final". IPC. 19 July 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  18. ^ "Sports Personality of the Year: Young contenders announced". BBC. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
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