University of Stirling sport scholar Lucy Hope has enjoyed a great run of form at this year’s European Aquatic Championships in Rome.
On the second night of the event, Hope secured her first medal. Taking a silver in the 200m Freestyle Relay alongside teammates Freya Colbert, Medi Harris and Freya Anderson.
Narrowly missing out on gold to the Netherlands by just under seven tenths of a second, Hope remained optimistic.
"I think we were hoping for the gold, but to come away with silver after the morning swim, we can't really be upset. We swam four good legs and we're all really happy with the silver."
The next evening would hold more success for the Stirling swimmer, this time in the 100m Freestyle Relay. Teaming up again with Harris and Anderson, but this time joined by Anna Hopkin, the relay team battled through a hotly contested final to take Britain’s first gold of the event.
Happy to secure the gold for the second consecutive year, Lucy said: "I was happy to go faster than in my individual, and to get the gold with the girls, it's what we came here to do, as defending champions there's a bit of pressure - but I think we all knew that if we put four good legs together, we could get the gold. We all had four good swims, so I'm really happy with tonight".
The swimming scholar also added to her silverware count in the heats, picking up another gold and silver medal respectively in the 200m Mixed Freestyle Relay and 100m Mixed Freestyle Relay.
Lucy Hope is part of the University’s high performance swimming programme which supports students in combining their studies with training and competing at the highest level of sport.