Jordan Harding is a talented teenager who won three gold medals swimming for Wales in Switzerland last year, as Bill Carne discovered when he met up with her for a chat . . .

Jordan Harding is 16 years old and already catching the eye of the Welsh selectors in the sport of swimming with her outstanding performances in the backstroke over 50, 100 and 200 metres.

One of her outstanding performances so far came when she was chosen, alongside Pembrokeshire team mates Kelsey Williams and Ffion Davies, to represent her country in an international competition in Switzerland where Spain, Italy and Austria were amongst the other countries represented.

It was a big challenge for Jordan because as well as being abroad the event also took place in an outdoor pool!

"The sun was shining but the water was really cold and it was quite a shock getting in for the start of my three events," said Jordan, "and there was snow on the mountains in the distance which made it seem even colder!"

But it is good to report that it didn't have a detrimental effect on her swimming because she won gold medals in all three of her distances, with a meeting record for the 100 metres backstroke.

Jordan has been selected to compete for Wales in Luxemburg in May - and this time she is quietly hoping that the meeting will be indoors!

It all seems a long way from the time when she started out as a nipper learning to swim with Ian Evans at the old pool in Haverfordwest and taking to it with such enthusiasm that by the time she was eight she was competing for Haverfordwest Seals in small galas around the county in all four swimming disciplines.

Jordan eventually settled to swimming the backstroke and by the time she moved to Tasker Milward School was in the county skills squad and now as member of the Elite Squad coached by Craig Nelson is committed to over 14 hours of rigorous training each week. That includes two mornings with a 6.30am start and four evenings each week, plus another stint on Saturday morning from 7 to 9am!

The two-hour sessions start with a poolside warm-up and then, using a mixture of the strokes, with a special emphasis on backstroke for Jordan, of about 200 plus lengths of the 25 metre pool for an amazing distance of around 5,000 metres!

"Craig Nelson is a great help," Jordan told us, "as was Paul Dowey before him."

All the hard work has paid off for Jordan because she was called into the regional and then Welsh squads, where she is now ranked first in Wales for the 50, 100 and 200 metre backstroke.

Another excellent step up was in gaining the qualifying time that allowed her to compete at the prestigious BASA National Championships in Sheffield, where only the top swimmers can perform – and in her first year she was part of the Welsh relay team which reached the final.

The following year saw Jordan reach the semi final of the 200 metres and achieve an outstanding performance in the 100 metres where she was pipped for a medal in a very tight finish as she came fourth. But it gave her the incentive to work hard and although Jordan was not physically at her best because of illness last season she still qualified for Sheffield and put in some creditable performances there.

And that leads us nicely on to this season where Jordan has again worked hard and is very close to qualifying for the British ASA Finals again. In fact she is just 0.33 of a second outside the qualifying time but has until June to make that up.

To that end, Jordan was in a regional camp all the week in Carmarthen where by Friday she had completed 20 hours of swimming (that is 2x2 hour sessions

per day) and five hours of land-based training, lectures and team activities, all whilst trying to study for her G.C.S.E.

It demands a huge commitment, not only for Jordan but for the whole family in terms of travel and giving support. Her mum Nicala, who was a Black Belt in judo with Bill McGarvie when she was a teenager, goes with her to Sheffield and although both describe dad Mark as a ‘couch potato’ he is also totally supportive of Jordan and her sister Lucy (12), who is a very promising swimmer with the Haverfordwest Seals and the Pembrokeshire ‘Potential’ squad. Then there’s Jordan’s grandparents Pat and Ken Clay, who are the ones that provide the transport when the Hardings travel around the

country.

Jordan also loves Latin and ballroom dancing, something she has done since she was four years old but it is inevitably swimming that occupies much of her spare time. Ask her about ambitions and she says that she just wants to keep on improving through hard work.

Another trip to Sheffield is definitely on the cards and looming up next year for young swimmers are the Youth Commonwealth Games, to be held in Samoa. It would be a wonderful way to celebrate achievement and we wish Jordan Harding every success because she really is a credit to her sport, her family and the county of Pembrokeshire!