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People, places and communities

Leeds Beckett student to represent Great Britain in lifesaving at World Games

04 August 2025

Leeds Beckett student Sam Lawman is heading to the World Games in China to represent Great Britain in Lifesaving.

Leeds Beckett student and Team GB athlete Sam Lawman, wearing a 'Great Britain' sports kit and sunglasses, standing poolside at an outdoor Olympic-sized swimming pool during a sunny day, with a training facility in the background. — Leeds Beckett student and GB athlete Sam Lawman

Sam, who is a postgraduate student, is the first British athlete in over 20 years to compete in the Lifesaving category for the 100-metres rescue medley.

Sam, who is 30 and is originally from Bradford but now lives in Leeds, competes for Race Pace Yorkshire and trains with Leeds Phoenix, all whilst balancing elite-level training with his postgraduate studies as a current MSc Physiotherapy student. Alongside this, he has also proudly represented Leeds Beckett as a member of the swimming and water polo team.

Sam explains what the 100-metres rescue medley involves: "When I say lifesaving you probably think of jumping in the pool in your pyjamas and getting a brick off the bottom - that type of thing. The race I do is 100 metres - you swim 50 metres, flip, turn and then you do 17 ½ metres underwater before picking up the manikin and then tow it the rest of the way."

He actually missed the call telling him he had a place in the World Games: "They ended up ringing my dad as he was my emergency contact and my dad said some guy from Belgium is trying to contact you - you need to ring him back. I rang him back and he told me I was now in eighth spot due to someone dropping out, so I was invited to the World Games. It's kind of a dream come true because it's very hard to qualify."

Sam says balancing his studies with his competition hasn't been too difficult thanks to supportive lecturers: "I try to keep it separate but when I am on placement, I can't just not turn up, but they've been really good. It's an international competition representing your country, so they said feel free and go ahead. As long as I can get my hours in which I did then they were great - really good support."

Sam is travelling out to China today and will gradually acclimatise to the 40-degree heat and 90% humidity over the next few days before his race on Friday afternoon.

The World Games take place in Chengdu in the People's Republic of China and run from 7 to 17 August.