A HIGHLY talented Bangor sportswoman is preparing to represent Team GB later this summer at the European Lifesaving Championships in Poland, following a string of impressive achievements for Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Zophia Quigley, 18, has a background in competitive swimming and has quickly risen to become one of the standout young athletes in the lifesaving sport community, winning medals for Ireland and most recently for Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Lifesaving Championships which were held last weekend in Wales.
Describing the sport and how she got into it, Zophia said: “I had never heard of it but one of my friends recommended it to me and I thought it sounded interesting because I have a swimming background.
“You swim full lengths of an Olympic-sized pool but you also have to dive down and lift weights which are usually a 55kg mannequin. It involves a lot of diving, holding your breath as well as the swimming.”
Zophia continued: “I did a couple sessions and I just fell in love with it. It involves different forms of races and one of the main events is the rescue medley. You swim 50m in an Olympic-sized pool and then you have to dive for the mannequin which is around 7m down and you pick it up and have to go back and complete the length and do it as fast as possible. There are loads of other events including doing the same with massive fins which makes it harder.”
Zophia recently competed in the Irish Open, where she set a new Open and Junior record in the women’s 100m Rescue Medley and came home with eight gold medals, including top place in the Senior SERC (Simulated Emergency Response Competition).
At the British Speeds Zophia has also claimed seven golds, one silver and one bronze, also setting a new record in the 50m Senior Mannequin Carry and finishing as the top British Senior Female overall.
Zophia said what is so appealing about the sport is its roots in real life-saving humanitarian techniques, which the sport still strives to promote around the world.
The Bangor swimmer said: “At the weekend in Wales they were telling us the sport came about through the humanitarian life-saving techniques which are practiced. They said 300,000 people a year die from drowning, especially in less developed countries.
“The sport runs development days with developing nations to help give people the skills for water safety. They recently had development days in Mauritius, Sierra Leone and Kenya etc which teach people water safety but also help those nations to also build up their own teams which can then compete in the sport.”
Despite the sport’s small size in Northern Ireland, Zophia said the team here consistently punches above its weight.
“Our team here in Northern Ireland is a really small team but for such a small team we get a lot done, in the UK we’ve been the top team for two years in a row. Myself and my friend Ciara Rodgers won two golds and our team also won four silvers at the 2025 Commonwealth Lifesaving Championships.
“Our team is now ranked fifth in the Commonwealth, which is really good going, considering how small we are compared to other nations like Australia and South Africa which are huge and the sport is very popular in those countries.”
Zophia has now qualified to represent Team GB at the European Lifesaving Championships, which will take place this August in Poland. The pool events will be held from August 24 to 27 in Szczecin, with the beach competitions running from August 29 to September 1st in Międzyzdroje.
