Two Sussex swimmers have been selected for their British junior debuts.

Richard Salt, 17, from West Chiltington and Durrington's David Bartlett, 16, compete against Germany and Italy in a Three Nations meet in Hamburg this weekend.

Both swimmers were picked after success at the National Short Course Championships in Sheffield.

Salt (Shiverers), the ASA junior 100m freestyle longcourse title-holder, made two senior semi-finals in which he recorded personal bests.

Bartlett (Littlehampton Club) was crowned national junior 200m breastroke champion.

Salt beat his 100m individual medley best by one second in 59.12sec behind Olympian James Hickman He also smashed his 100m freestyle fastest by 1.3sec in 51.40sec.

He said: "David and I have been given a tremendous boost for the Three Nations after what happened at Sheffield.

"I was surprised to do so well as I had hardly done any training. I went on a football trip to Thailand in October and then an eye infection kept me out of the water for a couple of weeks.

"The fact there were plenty of Olympians there, like Hickman, gave me an added incentive to push harder and I was very happy with the way I swam."

Bartlett completed a national 200m breaststroke double.

He won the age group title last August and was unstoppable at Sheffield where he claimed the junior title in a personal best 2min.20.49sec.

He said: "I am delighted. It was a mixed level field because I was thrown in with the seniors, including Olympian Alan Whitehead. But I kept my head and swam my own race. I managed to win by just four hundreths of a second and beat my previous best by 1.5sec.

"The fact Richard and I did well shows how much Sussex swimming has picked up."

Simon Burtenshaw has been selected for the World Cup in Sheffield next month.

The 19-year-old, from Hove, clinched his spot after finishing among the top five shortcourse sprint swimmers at the National Shortcourse Championships.

Burtenshaw, from the Shiverers club, came close to quitting earlier this year following the death of a relative, but was back to his best.

He became the first Sussex swimmer to break 50sec when he finished fifth in the 100m freestyle final behind winner Paul Belk, who competed in Sydney.

Burtenshaw improved his previous best three times as he progressed through the heats and posted 49.85sec in the final.

He was also seventh in the 50m final, again beating his previous best on three occasions, his best effort of 23.16 coming in the semi-final.

Burtenshaw, a training partner of Salt, said: "I'm very happy. The last year has been up and down. I went into the nationals thinking I'll just give what I can give.

"I'd been getting PBs at county level in low-profile events but although I was doing well I didn't know how well.

"I tried the 50m and that went well and gave me more confidence for the 100m.

"My coach Ian Newell and my dad, who has coached me, told me I would be going inside 50sec by Christmas and I've done it. It is a shock.

"The bonus is that I did about six or seven personal bests as well.

"I can go into the World Cup now feeling really inspired. I came close to stopping swimming when my grandmother died. But this proves there is light at the end of the tunnel. I can smile again.

"There is a lot more I can do. I've worked hard and I feel I can now break the British 100m short course freestyle record. I'm only 1.4sec outside it now.

"I am really going to knuckle down and hopefully get into the World Championship team in July. I am in the top five and they normally take six for a relay anyway."

LISA Chapman, the 16-year-old Hastings Seagull, completed her year by finishing third in the senior 100m individual medley while claiming the British junior crown in Sheffield. Lisa, from Flimwell, managed a personal best of 1min.03.35sec despite suffering a cold and a shoulder problem.

The Hastings Sixth Form College pupil made semi-finals in the 50m and 100m senior backstroke events.

She also took the runners-up spot in the 50m junior backstroke to Scotland's Louise Call which made her English champion.

Her father John said: "She didn't do too badly considering the cold was effecting her breathing. It rates pretty high with what she has done this year."

Lisa won three gold medals and two silvers in the senior Six Nations meet, collected a silver and two fourths at the European Junior Championships and broke the British junior 100m IM record before defeating Olympian Katy Sexton at the Swansea Grand Prix.

University student Alexa White, from Crawley, was third in the 100m butterfly and fourth in the 50m butterfly.

Younger swimmers enjoyed the experience in the senior competition.

They included Bognor's Gemma Spofforth (22nd in the 50m backstroke), Hailsham's Craig Steenhoff (18th in the 200m butterfly) and Brighton trio Amy Kent (24th in the 50m breaststroke and 27th in the 100m medley), Claire Manton (34th in the 100m medley, 39th in the 100m breaststroke, 42nd in the 50m backststroke, 42nd in the 100m backstroke) and Kirsty Hedge (33rd in the 50m breastroke).