Branton sets record at Europe swim meet

Shona Branton

Port Lambton’s Shona Branton, a member of the Swimming Ontario swim team, set a meet record at the 2024 EuroMeet held in Luxembourg on the weekend.

Branton set the meet record in winning gold in the women’s 100-metre breaststroke with a time of 1:06.59.

Branton was second in the 50-metre breaststroke, finishing with a time of 30.75, just 0.04 behind Italy’s Arianna Castiglioni.

The reigning Western Mustangs Female Athlete of the Year, Branton competed in the EuroMeet for the second year in a row. The meet features most of the top swimmers from Europe.

“Last year was really fun, it was definitely my breakthrough meet as it was the first time I broke 1:10 in long course and I felt like everything just started to fall into place after that,” said Branton “I felt like it really set me up well for the U SPORTS Championship long course final last year and definitely helped me get that gold medal,” Branton said, prior to travelling to Europe.

Mustangs head coach Paul Midgley joined her on the trip as he had been selected as a coach for the team representing Ontario.

So far, Branton is having a strong season swimming for the Western Mustangs. She was named the Western Mustangs Female Athlete of the Week powered by Under Armour for the week ending January 21. This was the second time this season Branton was named the school’s athlete of the week.

Branton set a new Western record by swimming a final time of 1:05.70 in the 100m breaststroke in the Mustangs Dual Meet with the University of Toronto held earlier this month.

The OUA swimming Championship will take place Feb. 16-18 in St. Catharines.