Ada Langford had been winning Wavertree Club championships from the age of 15 and when just 17, she finished second to Daisy Curwen in her heat in the final trial at Southport for the 1912 Olympics. She was selected as one of six British women for the 100 metres freestyle, but only one, Jennie Fletcher, came home with a medal. Two weeks after the Olympics, Langford finished third in a race at Longsight, Manchester, won by the Stockholm gold medallist Fanny Durack in a new English record 1:11.8. Langford eventually turned professional, and after World War I performed as an acrobatic swimmer and high-diver, and spent a while working in Heligoland.