WIREDGOV

Last weekend a barrage of young athletes descended on Sheffield all eager to claim a gold medal from the Sainsbury’s 2013 School Games final.

With more than 1,600 school children competing across 12 sports, the Sainsbury’s School Games are supported by £35.5 million of National Lottery funding from Sport England and are delivered by the Youth Sport Trust.

Over the years the Games have helped launched the careers of sport stars including Ellie Simmonds and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, whose high-jump record was broken by Morgan Lake who jump an outstanding 1.82 metres.

There were many stand-out performances over the four days of competition, including Ryan Nicholls who ended the weekend with three swimming gold medals to his name.

"It's the first time ever that I've won triple gold so I'm really proud and happy,” said Nicholls, who won two silvers and a bronze at last year’s event in London.

“There was a lot of pressure but I got it and that's all that matters. I was confident but also nervous. It wasn't an easy competition.”

At the gymnastics England’s Giarnni Regini-Moran added to his all-around title by taking home the gold in both the men’s floor and vault finals, while team-mate Catherine Lyons won all four apparatus finals to take her gold-medal tally to six for the competition.

"I couldn't have asked for my Sainsbury's School Games to go any better than it did, winning six gold medals is amazing," Lyons said.

"I wanted to try and win it all obviously, but knew it would be hard and this is beyond anything I could have dreamt up before I got here, I am so happy."

The event was brought to a close by a spectacular closing ceremony where the athletes celebrated their successes from the four days of competition and be the first to hear where next year’s final will be held.

Building on the success of this year’s event, next year will see some of the most talented school-age athletes come together in Manchester, a city renowned for its passion for sport, to compete in the Sainsbury’s 2014 School Games final.

Jennie Price, Chief Executive at Sport England said: “This event is a fantastic stepping stone for talented young athletes, giving them the chance to experience just what it’s like to part of a major sporting event. It also gives many youngsters their first taste of volunteering which will hopefully inspire them to do more.  With its strong sporting heritage, I’m sure Manchester is going to put on a great Games in 2014.”

Find out more about the Sainsbury’s School Games