Endless help from Leighton Buzzard company to keep Jocelyn swimming and on track for Olympics

Local swimmer Jocelyn Ulyett, who is double British record holder, contacted Azure Pools & Hot Tubs to see if they could help.

They were delighted to be able to offer her assistance by letting her use the Endless Pool at their showroom located at Leighton Buzzard Garden Centre on Hockliffe Road.

Jocelyn had gone from training for over 20 hours a week in a pool, 6 hours in a gym, plus circuits, core work and Yoga on top of that, to being unable to train at all in her usual facilities due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With Azure’s help she was able to recommence training in the pool, whilst also making use of the local canal paths to run and keep her fitness up, plus using some home gym equipment.

Azure Pools & Hot Tubs is a family-run business which has over 40 years’ experience in designing and building all sorts of pools and hot tubs.

The Endless Pool has a variable swim current that can be varied up to 7mph by means of a handheld speed controller, which is the equivalent of a swimming pace of up to 100metres in 1 minute 9 seconds. This range of speeds has allowed Jocelyn to practice different types of training including aerobic swimming, speed repetitions, kick work and technique focused sessions. The swim mirror fixed in the pool is perfect for focusing on swim techniques for all strokes.

“I am delighted for this opportunity and incredibly thankful to Azure Pools for being so kind. The set up they have is great and this has been the perfect addition to my isolation training” said Jocelyn, who is originally from the Linslade Crusaders team and currently trains at Loughborough as a full-time professional athlete.

“This has been the longest time I’ve been out of the water for about 10 years, so the opportunity to train at their facility was most welcome.”

With competitions for the rest of the year cancelled, including the World Short Course Championships in December, Jocelyn only has the International Swim League currently scheduled, however that is yet to be confirmed.

Regardless, 2021 is still going to be a big year with the Olympics being rescheduled for July, and though the date has not been given for the Olympic Trials yet, Jocelyn believes that having the extra year of training will improve her chances of qualification.

She was having a successful season with a new British Record in December and the fastest in season race in March before lockdown.

She is viewing the postponement of the Olympic Games as a positive. “It is another year, so it is another year of giving me the opportunity to get even better, and to push myself even more to achieve my goals,” she said.

Jocelyn made her international debut in 2017 by qualifying for the World Championships which were held in Budapest, where she finished in 9th place. Since then, Jocelyn has gone on to compete at The Commonwealth Games 2018, The European Short Course Championships, and The World University Games 2019. She is also a member of the Toronto Titans team, part of the International Swimming League.

Jocelyn has now returned back to her Loughborough training base as part of the ‘British Swimming Return to Training Elite Athlete Group’ following the government guidelines to facilitate the return of high performance athletes.