Navy swimmer OM Ian Fairhurst (27) has been awarded the NATO Trophy as the outstanding RN and RM Sportsman of the Year for 2002.

A promising swimmer in his teens, Ian joined the Navy in 1997 and has spent a fair bit of time at sea since, including spells in HMS Nottingham, HMS Manchester and HMS Lindisfarne.

Despite the sea-time, including HMS Manchester and currently fishery protection vessel HMS Lindisfarne, Ian has managed to supplement his ‘land training’ with visits to local pools whenever he has been ashore.

And the results have been spectacular, with a flurry of Royal Navy and Inter-Services records to his name.

He first came to the attention of Navy swimming coaches in the 1998 RN championships, when he broke MEA Mike Nolan’s six-year-old 100m backstroke record by more than 1.5 seconds.

His new RN record in the 200m backstroke that year still stands.

In 2001 he pushed C/Sgt Nic Vaughan RM to a new Inter-Services butterfly record, with his own time being well inside the previous RN record, and he took more than 1.6 seconds off the 19-year-old Inter-Services 100m backstroke record.

He was a key member of the Combined Services team that year, bringing five medals home from the European Masters in Majorca, including silver in the 200m backstroke as CPO Nolan won 100m gold.

In 2002, competing as a member of the RN team at the World masters in Melbourne, Ian won three silvers (200m backstroke, 50m backstroke and medley relay), two bronzes (200m individual medley and freestyle relay), and then capped it all with the gold in a thrilling 100m backstroke race.