Tarek, the Sri Lankan born swimmer, impresses in UK
View(s):Tarek Bluck, a Sri Lankan-born dual citizen, recently bagged gold medal in the 100m Freestyle long course event at the Aquatic GB Next Gen Swimming Championships 2025 held at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, United Kingdom. The 15-year old swimmer has been named as one of the ‘stars of the future’ by Aquatics GB on their social media page.
This Championship is held annually and only the top 24 swimmers in the whole of the UK for each age group in each event are invited to participate in the season finale. Tarek was invited to participate in six events for this age group. He competed in the 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m Freestyle and 50m and 100m Butterfly events. Tarek is presently ranked No.1 in the UK for the 100m long course freestyle event for 15 year old boys.
Tarek first started training with the late David Bolling, who was instrumental in developing his love for the sport. After the sad death of his coach he trained with Jeewaka Perera until he left for the UK at the age of 12 years.
The Worcester Swimming Club is not a performance centre and has no access to a 50m swimming pool. Tarek has been able to perform at a high level under the direction of his head coach Mark Stow, who is an advocate of age appropriate training, long term development of the athlete and the importance of ensuring that his swimmers have the freedom and time to enjoy their childhood, grow through puberty without any stress and develop a love for the sport, instead of competition-focused stressful training.
Tarek’s mother, Teruni Corea was a Sri Lankan national swimmer who runs a Learn to Swim School for children called Aquakids for the last 30 years. She has been instrumental in nurturing Tarek’s swimming journey throughout.