With the conclusion of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, British Swimming has officially announced its roster of 43 athletes headed to Glasgow in August to compete at the 2018 European Championships. Among the robust line-up are 8 champions from the Gold Coast competition this past week, including 100m free champion Duncan Scott, 3-time medalist James Wilby and breaststroke sprinters Adam Peaty and Sarah Vasey.
Says National Performance Director for British Swimming, Chris Spice,“There have been some excellent performances on the Gold Coast over the last six days. But now our focus in on our benchmark meet of the year, the European Championships.
“We are looking at this as a great opportunity to compete on a huge stage, and is an important part of our planning towards Tokyo 2020.”
Spice also says, “As this is a home meet it is a great opportunity for our young talent to experience international competition which is why we have chosen such a large team.
“And, it’s a great opportunity for the likes of Max Litchfield, who missed the trip to Australia with injury, to get back in the international arena. The selected team members here on the Gold Coast are now in a training camp until the end of the week when they will return home for a short break.
“This was a key component of the published selection policy so that we could maximise our performances in Glasgow in August.”
Of note, Spice said that both Lizzie Simmonds and Camilla Hattersley met the criteria for the Euro squad, but advised they were unable to compete.
Throughout the Commonwealth Games, SwimSwam kept track of those swimmers who clocked times under the British swimming qualification marks for the European Championships. Although athletes could have gained a QT outside of the Commonwealth Games, with the selection period spanning June 1st, 2017 to April 10th, 2018, the running roster from down under gave us a good idea of who the primary competitors would be in Glasgow.
Swimmers who notched times outside of the Commonwealth Games include world junior champions Emily Large and Freya Anderson, as well as Max Litchfield, who pulled out of the competition due to injury. Lucy Hope, Kathryn Greenslade, Jay Lelliott and young guns Jacob Peters and Nick Pyle are also among the competitors named for times clocked at non-Commonwealth competitions.
Two notable names not on the list for European Championships include Dan Wallace and Jazz Carlin. For Wallace, the former Florida Gator has reportedly called ‘time’ on his career, while Carlin is missing for unknown reasons at this time.
The full squad selection is:
Freya Anderson (England)
Charlotte Atkinson (Isle of Man)
Imogen Clarke (England)
David Cumberlidge (England)
Georgia Davies (Wales)
Kathleen Dawson (Scotland)
Tom Dean (England)
Tom Derbyshire (England)
Ellie Faulkner (England)
Jessica Fullalove (England)
Luke Greenbank (England)
Kat Greenslade (Wales)
James Guy (England)
Holly Hibbott (England)
Lucy Hope (Scotland)
Anna Hopkin (England)
Calum Jarvis (Wales)
Dan Jervis (Wales)
Cameron Kurle (England)
Emily Large (England)
Jay Lelliott (England)
Max Litchfield (England)
Craig McNally (Scotland)
Craig McLean (Scotland)
Hannah Miley (Scotland)
Stephen Milne (Scotland)
Ross Murdoch (Scotland)
Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (England)
Adam Peaty (England)
Jacob Peters (England)
Ben Proud (England)
Nick Pyle (England)
Molly Renshaw (England)
Duncan Scott (Scotland)
Mark Szaranek (Scotland)
Alys Thomas (Wales)
Chloe Tutton (Wales)
Sarah Vasey (England)
James Wilby (England)
Cassie Wild (Scotland)
Brodie Williams (England)
Aimee Willmott (England)
Abbie Wood (England)
jeez, northern ireland lacks good swimmers.. even Isle of Men has one in the roster 😉
Northern Irish swimmers (sportsmen in general) have the option of competing either for GB or for Ireland. I suspect that given it’s easier to qualify for Ireland that’s what most of them do. Certainly Connor Ferguson and Jordan Sloan do.
With names like Connor Ferguson, I suspect it’s due to political affiliation in most cases.
Being seen to betray your community in such a high profile way by swimming for RoI or the UK could lead to paramilitary reprisals, sadly.
I’m not sure so in this case. Ferguson attended my old grammar school (high school for high achievers for those of you in N.America) and comes from a well grounded middle class family. About 90-95% of pupils there are from the “Team GB” side of the community shall we say when I was there in the 1980s. I don’t know the Ferguson family but they are friends of friends.
It’s more to do with the individual sport. For example swimming and boxing have an All Ireland setup much like rugby. Wayne McCullough won an Olympic silver in 1992 representing Ireland before winning a world title as a professional boxer, even though he grew up in a fiercely Unionist (British) area… Read more »
A Bo Jackson fan growing up in Ulster? Interesting.
Massive Bo fan.
Ferguson is a Scots surname.
Wallace retired after Commonwealth Games.
I think Carlin may be done with the pool and focusing on Open Water from now. Perhaps understandable, she won’t better what she did in Rio (two silvers behind the untouchable Ledecky with big PBs in both), so might be hard to maintain motivation there. A fresh challenge will help.
Wallace’s career, if that is it, is such a strange mix. Top performances at the CG four years ago, but very uneven since then. Decent showing at the 15 worlds, followed by a bad year before finding great form at the OG in Rio off the back of a (much criticised at the time) Wild Card. Then a fairly awful year (I think he only made one final at the… Read more »