THREE Reading Swimming Club youngsters were in sparkling form at a major competition.

Joseph Buxton, Silas Mendez and Nikolai Khutoryanskiy – all aged 15 – smashed their previous personal bests at the Swim England National Winter Championships in Sheffield and set some of the fastest times in the country in their age group.

The event – streamed live on BBC – saw Buxton claim a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke.

He threatened the British junior record in a time of 2mins 18.60 secs and shaved an incredible nine seconds off his previous best in what Olympic swimmer and BBC commentator, James Goddard, called a ‘ridiculously impressive’ time.

Khutoryanskiy put on an outstanding display in the 50m breaststroke, shaving 1.15 secs of his PB to clock 30.19. He also took three seconds off his 100m breaststroke PB with 1:06.13.

Finally, Mendez set another PB for Reading by taking two seconds off his 100, freestyle PB with 52.54.

Reading Swimming Club head coach Lee Mallinson said: “I am extremely proud to see the development of our swimmers who are now becoming so much more process-driven and focussed.”

Looking ahead to the 2019 long course season, he added: “This latest set of performances provides the opportunity to reflect on where we are and what needs to be done to maintain the momentum moving forward.”