Golden weekend for Nottingham athletes at BUCS Nationals 2026
University of Nottingham athletes delivered a memorable performance at this year's BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Nationals in Sheffield, returning home with a magnificent number of senior gold medals. Competing across athletics, badminton, fencing, karate, climbing and swimming, the #GreenandGold secured national titles in five of the six sports over the weekend with karate leading the medal haul with eight gold medals contributing to a total of 27 senior podiums from the weekend.
Published 19 Feb 2026
Isabella-Andreea Niculai competing in the Women's Épée final which she would go on to win
Held across the three days of the 13th to the 15th February in Sheffield, the 2026 BUCS Nationals brought together the country's top university athletes for one of the highlight events in the student sports calendar. Across a packed weekend of competition spanning six sports, Nottingham demonstrated excellence from start to finish, claiming the opening medals of the championships to concluding with a Green and Gold showdown that secured both gold and silver in the final action of the weekend.
Fencing set the tone early, with Nottingham winning the first medals of the weekend as Wilf Broughton secured gold in the Mixed Foil, whilst Isabella-Andreea Niculai claimed victory in the Women's Épée. Rachael Lever also returned to podium with a bronze in Friday's Women's Épée, contributing to a strong overall performance at the start of the championships from the fencing squad. One day later, Louis Taiwo would be the Nottingham fencer celebrating with his team mates as he showed impressive progression to claim gold in the Mixed Épée after a top-eight finish last year.
The new national champion spoke about his achievement saying:
It feels unbelievable to win gold. I had my predecessors Florin Mirica and James Jeal win this title the last two years, so I wanted to keep the tradition going and keep the title in Nottingham!
Louis Taiwo, Mixed Épée Individual Champion
Meanwhile, Saturday's action at the English Institute of Sport saw Ali Al Mubarak mark his BUCS Nationals debut by claiming gold in the Men's Shot Put. After qualifying by topping group B earlier in the day, Al Mubarak registered a throw of 17.35m on his third attempt of the final to secure victory.
On the badminton courts at the same arena, Abi Hong and Chloe Dennis secured gold in the Women's Doubles, improving from last year's bronze to reach the top of the podium. The University of Nottingham also celebrated silver in the Men's Doubles through Luke Salwey and Jacob Weekes, whilst Katherine Arksey and Lucy Dodd added bronze in the Women's Doubles, completing a successful championship for Nottingham's badminton squad.
In the pool, Izzie Leigh added another national title to Nottingham's tally by securing gold in the Women's 50m Backstroke, going one better than her silver in the same pool at November's Short Course Championships. This podium topping effort added to a strong showing across multiple disciplines throughout the weekend for our swimmers, and University of Nottingham Head Coach Ryan Webb commented:
BUCS Nationals were a huge success for the team. We delivered our highest ever number of final appearances and broke 10 club records along the way. Beyond the performances, what stood out most was the camaraderie, professionalism, and visible pride in representing the Green and Gold.
Ryan Webb, Swimming Head Coach
As was the case twelve months ago Karate once again proved central to Nottingham's medal success, delivering a dominant series of performances across both Kata and Kumite events. The University of Nottingham secured gold in the Open Team Kata (Eve Holdsworth, Amelia Clow, Amy Dixon, and Elizabeth Howlett), overcoming local rivals Nottingham Trent to take victory, alongside individual titles for Eve Holdsworth in the Women's Individual Kata and Cameron Panday in the Men's Individual Kata - both improving on their previous podium finishes to achieve gold this year.
Further gold medals followed in Kumite events through Kobe Yogarajah (-60kg), Jenna Cato (-55kg), Tahlia Blake (-61kg), James Walker (-84kg) and Jacob Cutler (+84kg), with Cato, Walker and Blake returning to top spot after victories in 2025. Additional podium finishes included silver medals for Tom Warnock (+84kg), Kate Hambleton (+85kg), Jess Wyman (-68kg), Waleed Alnoumas (-75) and Sam Eagle (-60kg), as well as bronze medals for Rebecca Adie (-68kg), Edward Mullhall (-67kg) and Aidan Reaney (-67kg), alongside bronze for the Men's Team Kumite. The karate events secured the final medals of the weekend, and culminated in an all-Nottingham final. The Karate Club's success earned them the title of BUCS Overall Team Champions for the sixth year in a row.
With national champions crowned across athletics, fencing, badminton, karate and swimming, and with a great number of gold medals achieved - the University of Nottingham once again demonstrated the strength and depth of its performance sport programme at one the UK's premier university sporting events.
Alex Perry, Assistant Director of Sport (Performance), reflected on the achievements of our athletes across the weekend:
Everyone at University of Nottingham Sport is incredibly proud of all the students who represented us this past weekend. The momentous results of 2026 are a testament to the dedication of our athletes, coaches and support staff to achieving their best and reflect the commitment made throughout the year, both on and off the field. I’d like to thank our partners RedBull and Myprotein, as well as our official kit supplier PlayerLayer for their continued support for our elite sport programme.
Alex Perry, Assistant Director of Sport (Performance)
For the full results of all the competitions at BUCS Nationals, please visit our dedicated BUCS Nationals page here or watch the action back here.
Attentions now turn to one of the busiest periods of the competitive university sport calendar as the 2025/26 season begins to draw to a climax. Nottingham will be looking to add individual and team titles across a number of championships, with our teams also looking to reach finals day at BUCS Big Wednesday 2026.
Follow all the action as it unfolds at uonsport.tv as well as University of Nottingham’s Instagram, Facebook and X channels.
Photography credits: BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport)
Notes for editors
University of Nottingham are the top UK University for team sport, placing 2nd in the overall British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) rankings in the 2023/24 season. For more information on our performance sport offer, including scholarships and support for student athletes, please click here.
Rebecca Frost
Location: University of Nottingham