SWIMMING phenomenon Anna Atkinson-Smith has become one of the youngest children ever to gain a Gold Challenge award after only three years of lessons.

Anna, six, of Beckfield Lane, York, attends Upper Poppleton Infants School and has been swimming since the age of three when she joined the ducklings group at the Edmund Wilson swimming pool.

Her mother Jill, said: "She's a fantastic little swimmer and swims for York City Baths Club. She loves swimming and goes about four times a week. She even does butterfly.

"I've got her ready for the Olympics - I think she's brilliant."

Her classmates Louise Murray, nine, Heather Brooke, ten and Rebecca Peace, eight, also passed the award which involves swimming 32 lengths in 25 minutes using three different strokes.