Ethan Potter represented his country at the World School Games in Brazil, competing in four speed events in the swimming championships — winning his first international medal.

Competing alongside 2,000 young people from 44 countries, 15-year-old Ethan was representing England as part of the English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA) team.

Ethan, of Sutton, claimed bronze in the 200m backstroke, helping England top the medal table with 22 golds, 19 silver and 11 bronze medals.

His success followed qualifying and competing in six events at this summer’s British Championships.

Placing in the top six in his distance events earned Ethan selection for both the Swim England National Youth Development Programme and Swim England’s National Endurance Initiative, which are run over the 2023/24 season.

His training in the build up to both the British Championships and the World School Games was hampered due to an injury to his medial collateral ligament on his right knee, and a chest infection.

However. he said: “Injuries and illness are an unfortunate part of sport; it’s about pushing through those periods and becoming stronger for it.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to represent my country for the first time and to everyone who awarded funding to help me, including The Armchair Club, Ashfield District Council, ESSA East Midlands, and Yorkshire Swimming Association, and to all the individuals who donated to my GoFundMe page, in particular the Lafferty, Winder, and Parsons families.

“Everyone’s contribution enabled me to achieve my first international medal and I hope to add to this in the future”.

Ethan is now back in training, tackling eight two-hour sessions over a six-day week, with 4am starts to travel to Sheffield to swim with his City of Sheffield Swim Squad.