Phuket born and bred Savannah competed at the Thailand National Age Group Swimming Championships in the Thai capital between Apr 3-8 where over 1,400 athletes from 186 national swim clubs battled it out in the quest to become a national age group champion.
The championships, held at the Sports Authority of Thailand swimming pool complex in Huamark, are acknowledged as the largest swimming competition in Thailand, serving as the key pathway for selecting swimmers to represent the country in international competition.
Participating in her first national age championships Savannah, a 10-year-old dual Thai and UK national, competed in the 10-11 years age category and lit up the pool to bring home a gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 1 minute 22.35 seconds and a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke with a time of 37.45 seconds.
Savannah’s medal haul in itself was impressive enough. However, equally significant was the fact that her achievements broke the dominance that Bangkok has held over the breaststroke event over the years. Furthermore, her time in the breaststroke 100m moved her into 2nd place on the all-time list for 10-year-old male or female athletes in official competition (as per UK rankings).
When asked how she felt about her success Savannah said: “It feels good. I know the girls in Bangkok now, and it is nice to know they aren’t unbeatable.”
Promise
Success hasn’t come easily for Savannah. She took up swimming at the age of seven whilst at Kajonkiet school in Thalang. By the age of eight she had shown enough promise and enjoyment of the sport that she moved to Kajonkiet Suksa school in Kathu in order to train and swim competitively.
Training took place straight after school Monday to Friday and often did not finish until 8pm, with weekend training consisiting of two hours on a Saturday morning. “It was old school and tough,” commented Savannah’s father Stuart. “By the time she finished training she would have to eat dinner in the car on the way home before heading straight to bed. To make things slightly more manageable we ended up moving to within a five minute drive of the school. Balancing swimming, school work and finding time to just be a kid isn’t easy.”
In August 2025 Savannah was taken under the guidance of coach Torwai Sethsothorn, a single-time Olympian and a multiple-time SEA Games gold medalist who specialised in long-distance freestyle but also competed in backstroke and individual medley. Training under Torwai was equally tough with 6:30am sessions before school three days a week in addition to five days a week after school and on the mornings of both weekend days. However, training was also made fun and always something to look forward to with the small, close knit group focused on the goal of establishing a presence from Phuket able to challenge the dominance and resources of the elite Bangkok swim teams.
Record breaker
During the school holidays Savannah trains in the UK with Portsmouth Northsea Swimming Club, who have produced former world championship gold medalists including Katy Sexton, who in 2003 became the first British swimmer to win a World Aquatics Championships title, and Gemma Spofforth, a 2009 World Champion and former world record holder in the 100m backstroke. These UK-based training sessions provide an added perspective to help Savannah’s development that complement the training she undergoes in Phuket.
The training and hard work are clearly paying off. In December last year at the prestigious Surat Thani Championships Savannah broke the South Thailand records for both 50m and 100m breaststroke in the 10-year-old age category, with times of 39.65 seconds and 1 minute 26.18 seconds respectively. Not only did that prepare her sufficiently for the recent National Age Group Championships in Bangkok but it saw her shatter two records that had stood respectively for 18 years.
“Swimming is a sport showing rapid growth in Thailand and it’s an exciting time,” explained Stuart. “This is particularly true for the southern region who have a number of excellent swimmers emerging at different age group levels and who are now challenging the status quo of the dominance of Bangkok, which is ultimately incredibly healthy for the sport.”
The message is clear: combine talent with hard work and you can achieve outstanding results in any discipline. Just look at Savannah for proof of that.