Chorley swimmer makes a splash at Tokyo Olympics

Anna Hopkin, from Chorley, has certainly made a splash at her debut Olympic appearance.

She'll be coming back to Lancashire with a gold medal around her neck after winning the mixed 4x100 metres medley relay in a new world record time.

Her and her teammates Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty and James Guy touched out in 3mins 37.58s to grab Britain's fourth gold in the pool.

The previous world record was set by China last year (3mins 38.41s), who can in second spot this year just ahead of Australia who took bronze.

Hopkin made her World Chamionship debut in 2019, reaching the 50m Freestyle final, and had already made huge improvements to her times in the pool.

Earlier in the week at Tokyo, the 25-year-old gained the third fastest time in the 100m Freestyle heats, but was disappointed with her performance in the semi-finals where she came 4th.

The final was full of tough competitors and Anna managed 7th - but was only 0.87s off Australia's Emma McKeon who took the gold medal and only 0.3s off bronze.

We spoke to Anna before she flew off to Tokyo to compete. She said:

"It's my first Olympics so it quite scary but it's also very exciting and there isn't any real pressure on me or expectations so I think I've just got to enjoy that feeling of maybe being the underdog.

"I'll try to use that to my advantage and just go in as relaxed as possible and just enjoy the experience and try and make the most of the opportunity and I think that's how I'm going to give my best performance.

"I'm definitely not one of the favorites for a medal so for me I'm trying to make the top 8 and get in the final but with the sprint it can all be so close.

"It's the waiting around before you get on the blocks and standing behind the blocks that's the most nerve-wracking. Once you're actually in the water that goes away and you're just focused on your racing and making sure I'm not making any mistakes. Every 10th counts in that situation."

Well as we saw in the 100m Freestyle Final every 10th certainly does count!

After her individual 100m Freestyle race, her mum, Helen was incredibly proud:

"We're just so happy for her. She's done brilliantly.

"To be, again, sub 53s and in a field such as that Olympic final with some completely unbelievable names is phenomenal.

"It was all so close and Anna looked so comfortable within it. She's got such consistency right at that very top level that we're just so proud of where she's come and how she's done.

"She's come such a long way! She's over 2.3s quicker than she was in the Commonwealth Games in 2018 so just such amazing improvements over the past couple of years. She's done so well.

"We're looking forward to the next Olympics in Paris. We know she'll just be building on that strength and consistency that she's now finding right up there.

"Very excited. Very happy for her and she looks incredibly happy herself which is rightly so - she's done a brilliant job."

Inspiring Chorley

Anna's success has been inspiring the next generation of swimmers in Chorley.

Mary Parkinson is head coach at Chorley Marlins where Anna first started swimming when she was 8-years-old.

Mary coached her for four years. She told us that one little girl came up to her and said, "we've just been talking to Anna Hopkin on a Zoom meeting, I actually spoke to her and she mentioned Chorley Marlins!"

Mary told us how much of an impact Anna had made on the community:

"She was over the moon. This young girl is only 10 and I just think that it's an inspiration to all our young swimmers. I now say she was one of you - you can aspire to that as well.

"Even at the age of 9, you could tell she had a talent. She was unbeatable. As she progressed into more competitions she was outstanding, and outshining with her technique. I think Anna had a natural ability.

"She went to Nationals for the first time at 11-years-old. You knew she had the talent to take it further if she wanted to and I'm just so glad that she has.

"If you look at what Anna's achieved in the last few years, she's now got the GB record which has been there since 2009. She can only go forward and I really believe that she can do it."

"All of us at Chorley Marlins are very proud of her!"

Find out more about our local athletes competing at Tokyo 2020.