A trio of Shropshire swimmers will be rubbing shoulders with the likes of double Olympic gold medalist Rebecca Adlington next week.

Alex Hooper, 17, Fern Davies, 16, and Jacob Laybourne, 15, have all qualified to take part in the British Gas Swimming Championships at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge which starts on Monday.

Alex, a former Thomas Telford School student who now swims with City of Birmingham, will be taking part in the 100m and 200m backstroke events.

Fellow City of Birmingham swimmer Fern, who lives near Ludlow and used to swim for her home town club, will take part in the 200m fly, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley.

Jacob, who swims for Bridgnorth-based Northgate, has qualified to take part in the 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly events.

A Northgate spokesman said: “We are all delighted to see one of our swimmers taking part in such a prestigious event.

“Good luck to Jacob and we hope he has a great day.”

Today he was taking part in the Shropshire Age Group Championships at Market Drayton Swimming Centre.

The British Championships represent the first real test for many of the country’s top swimmers since the Beijing Olympics.

Adlington said: “I’m really looking forward to these championships, seeing everyone racing hard and the atmosphere will be very special.

“It will be exciting to get together with the best of British swimming.

“It’s a really significant moment for swimming in Britain.”