Grace Davison

Grace loves being part of a golden generation of high-performance swimmers

“Winning Gold and Silver at the Youth Commonwealths was a very surreal experience,” says Strathearn School Year 12 student Grace Davison. “I was really proud to be on the podium and it was extra special for me to have mum and dad in Trinidad to see me win.”

Grace clinched a Gold in the 400m Individual Medley and took silver in the IM 200m behind fellow Team NI colleague, Ellie McCartney. “It was fantastic to have two Northern Ireland competitors on the podium at the same time – really memorable.”

Both girls are part of a golden generation of high-performance swimmers who have come through the ranks at Ards Swimming Club including Victoria Catterson as well as para stars Bethany Firth and Barry McClements.  Like her Ards Club colleagues, Grace trains at Bangor Aurora located in her hometown.

She’s trained by Ards Swimming Club Head Coach, Curtis Coulter who competed in Commonwealth Games both in Glasgow (2014) and in the 2018 Gold Coast games. In terms of training Grace spends up to 18 hours a week in the pool complemented by three hours gym work at SINI in Jordanstown.

Her swimming career started in earnest when she watched her older sister Mia represent Ireland at the Youth Olympics in Hungary and Grace decided she wanted to compete at a similar high level. She was also inspired by para swimmer Ellie Simmons when Grace’s P3 teacher gave her a book about Ellie’s journey to success. “Her story was incredibly motivating, she is definitely someone I look up to as a sporting hero.”

The 2023 Youth Commonwealth Games in Trinidad and Tobago wasn’t Grace’s first big multi-sports outing as she was an integral part of Team NI at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022 when she was only 14.

“It was an amazing experience and I learned so much. It was unreal just taking in the surroundings and seeing evidence of so much talent in many different sports. I was constantly walking past stars like GB’s Adam Peaty and it was really interesting to watch them and see how they operate. It somewhat helped me change my approach when I got back home.

“Our NI swim team had a lot of great camaraderie and really supported each other. Competitors like Danielle Hill and Victoria Catterson are great role models for me and that experience in Birmingham really set me up well for Trinidad and Tobago. It taught me a lot.”

The Youth Commonwealths took place in August 2023 and Grace almost didn’t get to compete as she came down with tonsilitis a few weeks before the team were due to leave. However, she turned it around and managed to recover, although surprised herself by exceeding her expectations with gold and silver medals.

It was in 2020 that Grace became a Mary Peters Trust funded athlete and she’s delighted to be part of such a successful group, “It’s fantastic to know that the Trust is behind you and are there to help. We all have the same goals and it’s a really nice feeling to be part of this group.”

Grace’s focus up to Christmas 2023 is several European galas as well as studying for GCSEs which she’ll sit in June 2024. 2024 is therefore a big year for Grace. Regarding longer term goals, she feels the 2024 Olympics in Paris are a little bit close, with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles being a more realistic goal. Long-term her key goal is, ‘to get as far as I can in my sport and try to be the best that I can.’

Grace’s advice to new up and coming young athletes is something Bethany Firth once told her. ‘You can’t change anything (when you are about to compete) just keep doing everything you’ve been doing in training.