Ben's Medal Success

Ben Sweeney with his 15-medal haul

Doncaster College Lifeskills student Ben Sweeney won a remarkable 15 medals and set a new world record at the recent World Downs Syndrome Swimming Championships in Taiwan.

17-year old Ben, from Balby, won 2 Golds and 2 Bronzes in the individual races, 6 medals from the heats and 5 more medals from the team relay races.

On top of all that he set a world record in the 100 metres backstroke, with a time of 1min 33.05sec.

Ben, who has aspirations of being a chef when he leaves College, said: "I liked the Chinese food and Taiwan was a really interesting place. I went up the second highest building in the world, Taipei 101. The swimming was fantastic and I was really surprised because all I wanted to do was my best, and I got lots of medals which makes me feel really proud."

Ben now has his sights firmly set on the next championships in Italy and a little matter of the Olympics in 2012.

Doncaster College runs a host of Skills for Life courses at its Hub campus. Further details can be obtained by calling 0800 358 7575 or visiting http://www.don.ac.uk/

Updated 21/10/2010