In 2001 15 years old Khalid Jhugroo of Tyldesley Swimming and Water Polo Club was selected to represent Great Britain at the World Championships in the 5 km Open Water event. The championships took place in July in the Japanese City of Fukuoka.

The trials for the event were held at the Aquatics Centre, Manchester on 14^th April and in order to qualify Khalid had to not only achieve a qualifying time of 58 minutes 20 seconds but also had to finish in either 1^st or 2^nd place.

The race was dominated by 22 year old Greg Orphanides of Portsmouth but Khalid finished in second place well inside the qualifying time. His time of 56 minutes 52.23 was also a significant improvement on his personal best time. "I didn’t expect to go that fast. I’m really pleased, it’s still not sunk in yet.

Khalid finished 28^th in the 5 km open water event at the World Championships.

Khalid reported: "It was a lot tougher than I thought. The worst bit was swimming on my own. I was in the pack at the half way turn but then was on my own. I’ve never been in a race that tough before."

Khalid should not be too disappointed with his result, at the age of 15 he was the second youngest swimmer in the event, which had an average age of 23, and so has plenty of time to improve on this result.