Three Cumbria athletes in the School Games National Finals

This is the biggest event for young athletes in the country, from September 1 to 4 at Loughborough University. 

Jess Bailey from Ulverston will compete in Athletics, Emily Branthwaite from Maryport will compete in Wheelchair Basketball, and Archie Harding from Penrith will compete in the Modern Pentathlon. 

The games also include 4 Paralympic disciplines, one of which a Cumbrian girl will compete in

They will follow in the footsteps of Adam Peaty, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Hannah Cockroft who all made their start at the National Finals. This year, they competed in the Commonwealth Games.

Alumni from the School games National finals secured 100 medals at Birmingham between them, which would place the competition third in the medal table if it was a country. 

The event will host over 1,100 athletes between 13 and 18 who will compete across ten sports, including four disability disciplines. The School Games National Finals is an initiative led by children's charity, the Youth Sport Trust.

Medallists in a previous games

Roman Neveykin, the event lead for the School Games National Finals, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming back spectators to this year’s School Games National Finals. The addition of family and friends at this year’s event will help further create the atmosphere of a major multi-sport event we want our young athletes to experience.

“This year’s School Games National Finals will once again help develop the young athletes taking part on and off the field of play through high-quality competition and valuable education sessions to ensure they gain skills for life to become future changemakers.

"Following the success of the Commonwealth Games, we are excited to see what the future holds for these young athletes and who we might see compete in Australia in 2026 as a result.”

The School Games National Finals 2022 is taking place thanks to National Lottery funding from Sport England as part of the organisation's Birmingham 2022 legacy investment.

Held at Loughborough University, it provides the young athletes with first-class facilities and the experience of being in a sport competition village akin to the Commonwealth Games.