Wycombe District Swimming Club (WDSC) member Millie Sansome has been selected to represent Great Britain at the European Junior Open Water Championships.

The 15-year-old will travel to Piombino, Italy, for the event which takes place between September 9 and 11.

Her call up is the first for a WDSC swimmer since Alex Vine was given the honour in 2003, and Sansome is understandably delighted with her selection.

She said: “I’m really happy at being chosen to swim for Great Britain, it’s such a great reward for all the hours of training I’ve done. I couldn’t be happier.”

Sansome, who is the club’s junior captain, has trained in Wycombe for the past six years and has had success at various regional and national events.

She now hopes to develop her talent further and WDSC head coach Kevin Brooks believes she has the quality to keep improving.

He said: “Millie is an exceptional athlete, her commitment, work ethic and general all round personality has got her this far already.

“I’m highly confident that she can build on this year’s success and make huge improvements, not just in this open water event but also in the pool, where she ranks in the top six swimmers in almost all her main events.

“She narrowly missed out on British summer medals, and with this recognition I’m sure she’ll use this increased confidence to reach an even higher level over the years to come.”

Sansome’s inclusion in the British team caps an impressive couple of weeks for WDSC after James Eddy and James McFadzen were included in the British Swimming national junior training camp squad.

Their success was added to further by Sophie Millen, after the 17-year-old became one of a select few swimmers to be chosen for a specialist British Swimming training weekend later this month.

She was selected under the England 2020 program and will join established internationals such as Hannah Miley and Camilla Hattersley who both competed at Rio 2016.

The camp is designed to increase swimmers’ open water knowledge and Brooks believes Millen will benefit greatly from the experience.

“This is fantastic news for Sophie. She medalled at the National Open Water Age Group Championships, coupled with her superb swim at the Great East Swim,” he said of the Wycombe High School student.

“This is great recognition for her and for all the hours of training she has completed.”