Sport scholar up for BBC Young Sports Personality
MANCHESTER Metropolitan University Sport Scholar, Tully Kearney, has been shortlisted as a contender for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award following an incredible season.
Tully is a British para-swimmer and Paralympic hopeful who enjoyed incredible success at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow this summer, taking home six medals in total including four golds.
Her gold in the S9 400m freestyle saw Tully set a new European record with a time of 4:39.29, over ten seconds ahead of the silver medallist. She also set a European record in the S9 100m butterfly (1:09.04) and the SM9 200m individual medley (2:31.08).
Tully, who is studying for a BSc (Hons) in Physiology, said: “It is a real honour for me to be shortlisted for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award and I’m so excited about being able to go to Belfast for the event.
Medal haul
“Being recognised in this way is especially important for me as a para athlete, as I am really passionate about raising the profile of para sport so that it is seen on an equal footing as able-bodied sport.”
She added: “I went to the IPC World Championships just wanting to swim best times. I never once imagined I’d be coming home with one gold, never mind four world titles, a silver and a bronze.”
Tully began swimming at the age of nine, and decided to take up swimming competitively after being inspired when Paralympian, Ellie Simmons, displayed her medals at a school assembly.
In 2011, Tully entered the 25th German Open Meet in Berlin: her first international competition. The event saw her take seven medals in her age group, and a further two silver medals and a gold in the open age event.
Paralympic games
After being selected as a World Class Development Funded Athlete for the 2011/12 season, Tully went on to compete at the 2013 British International Disability Swim Championships, breaking the British record for the S10 100m backstroke twice. It was this performance that earned her a place on the British team for the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, where she won bronze in the women’s S10 400m freestyle.
Missing out on a place for the Commonwealth Games in 2014 due to an illness, Tully returned to swimming later that year, competing in the National Paralympic Day swimming event at the London Aquatics Centre. At the end of the year, she was awarded the Junior Sportsperson of the Year at the Birmingham Sports Awards.
Tully is now training at the National Performance Centre for British Para Swimming at the Manchester Aquatics Centre, with her sights set on being selected to represent Great Britain at next year’s Paralympic Games in Rio, alongside studying for her degree.
University support
“My sport scholarship at Manchester Met has enabled me to combine my studies with my training at the National Performance Centre, and I am incredibly grateful to have been given this scholarship,” she added.
“All the staff at the University have gone out of their way to support me. Training is going well and fits in around my studies perfectly. I’ve really settled in well here and I am enjoying being in Manchester.”
Callum Jones, Performance Sport Officer at Manchester Met, said: “Tully is becoming one of the most exciting British para-athletes of recent years. She has shown a mature and conscientious approach to balancing her studies and sport, while still remaining humble and very driven. Everyone within MMU Sport is looking forward to supporting her in her academic and athletic endeavours.”
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The top three nominees for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year will be named on Blue Peter on Thursday, December 10, with the overall winner announced live on Sunday, December 20, at the Sports Personality of the Year ceremony in Belfast.
For more information on our Sport Scholarship programme, visit our website www2.mmu.ac.uk/sport/sport-scholarships.
