26th June, 2024
Oliver heads out to Rome to compete in the Sette Colli Meet along with the other Team GB Olympians.
Oliver travelled with the TeamGB Olympic Team to the Sette Colli meet in Rome that was held from the 21st to 23rd June, 2024. Oliver raced in all 3 backstroke events on that weekend.
Oliver opened Day 1 with the 100m Backstroke heats where he placed 10th in a time of 55.35. That time put him 2nd into the B final. Fellow teammates Jonny Marshall and Luke Greenbank placed 6th and 14th respectively in the heats. In the evening, Oliver won the B Final convincingly with a time of 54.65 ahead of Luke Greenbank who finished in 4th.
In Day 2, Oliver swam the 50m Backstroke where he placed 9th in the heats with a time of 25.52. This saw him top seed into the B Final. Later that day, Oliver bettered his heats time and touched in second with a time of 25.26 just behind Italy's Lorenzo Mora.
On the last day, Oliver raced in the 200m Backstroke where a heats time of 2:02.21 placed him 12th, giving him a swim in the B Final that night. Oliver came back and took the win in the B Final being the only swimmer to go sub-2 minutes with a time of 1:59.47 ahead of Jonny Marshall who touched in 4th.
Reflecting on his swims from the weekend, Oliver says:
" Racing at Sette Colli in Rome was another great racing experience before the games in just over a month now. It’s the last exposure I’ll have until then in terms of racing so it’s really exciting to now be in that final phase of training before the games! Overall it was a great experience, some pretty hard in season racing, in and outdoor pool which always has its challenges as a backstroker, but happy with all the processes and feeling extra prepared now for the summer "