Helen Sadler: finding joy, friendship and fast swimming at Lublin 2025

Helen Sadler will be among Great Britain’s leading entrants at the European Aquatics Masters Short Course Swimming Championships in Lublin this December. Swimming out of Trafford Metro in Manchester, the club she joined at age 10, Sadler has competed in masters meets virtually non‑stop since 1998 – even through university, family life, and a stint in water polo. In June 2025, at the British Masters Championships in London, she delivered a world-class performance in the 55–59 women’s 50m freestyle, setting a new world record with a time. It was her first individual world record and a culmination of years of dedicated training and performance.

Sadler’s dominance continued on the global stage at the 2025 World Masters Championships in Singapore. There, she secured the 55–59 women’s 50m freestyle world title with a time of 28.20, adding a prestigious world champion gold medal to her achievements. She describes 2025 as “an absolutely crazy year,” and the world record in London as “probably” her biggest achievement, closely followed by her gold medal in Singapore.

Aside from sprint freestyle, Sadler has also contributed to world record-breaking relay teams. Reflecting on her background, Sadler notes that 50m events were not part of the age-group programme when she was a junior swimmer, only becoming a mainstream event from the age of 18. She transitioned to sprint freestyle in her late teens and set her lifetime bests in her late twenties. Remarkably, her recent performances are approaching those career-best times over 25 years later.

A self-described sprint specialist, Sadler’s training is built around power and speed. She trains in the gym three times a week – two upper-body sessions and one for legs – and swims at least three to four times a week. “The pool sessions are a mixture between endurance sprints and then full-on, straight-up sprinting,” she explains. She focuses on recovery and smart conditioning, noting that “at 55 it’s a bit more challenging” to train the same way she did in her youth. Instead, she emphasises training smarter, with improved nutrition, strength work, and recovery strategies. Despite her age, Sadler still sets ambitious targets, including breaking 26 seconds in the 50m freestyle. “I will slow down at some point,” she admits, “but I just want to push that out as long as I can.”

Sadler will soon bring her experience and ambition to the European Aquatics Masters Short Course Championships in Lublin, Poland, taking place from 10–14 December 2025. She is entered in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, and 50m butterfly. With multiple European and world titles to her name, Sadler enters the competition as one of Britain’s top contenders. “I would like to be able to get the title as well, if I possibly could,” she says. While she acknowledges the unpredictable nature of sprint events – “so many things can go wrong on a 50” – her focus remains on staying healthy, fit, and ready to race. “Nothing is ever a given in this game,” she adds, “and it’s all about who’s racing best on the day.”

Sadler’s masters career began in 1998 and has grown steadily. She made her international debut at the European Masters in London in 2016 and has since competed at editions in Rome and Serbia, as well as at the World Championships. Now that her children are grown up, international travel has become more feasible, and she embraces the chance to compete abroad. “Being able to spread our wings and do some international competition is fabulous,” she says. She also values the social element of masters swimming: “It’s great making international friends and racing against them again and again.”

For those considering entering the sport, Sadler has simple advice: “Just join the masters club… don’t fear it, just do it.” She believes masters clubs offer camaraderie, coaching, and motivation, whether swimmers are returning to the sport after years away or discovering it for the first time. “Fun and friendship is really what Masters is about,” she says. “Yes, there’s racing and it can be as competitive and as serious as you want it to be. But ultimately, even at that end, it’s got to be fun…and Masters is fun.”

Click here for more information about the upcoming Championships.

Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics

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