Tom Dean Ready To Race In Budapest With 200 Free Target On His Back

2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• June 18-25, 2022 (pool swimming)
• Duna Arena, Budapest, Hungary
• LCM (50m)
• Full Aquatics Schedule
• Preview Index
• Meet Central
• Live Results
• SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest

Six members of the British Swimming Performance Centre Bath squad are set to compete at the 2022 FINA World Aquatics Championships which kick off just two days from now.

Freya Anderson, Tom Dean, James Guy, Matt Richards, Jacob Peters and Brodie Williams are among the 23-strong British squad slated to race in Budapest, Hungary, along with University of Bath alum Anna Hopkin.

With the psych sheets now published by FINA, here are the individual event lineups for the aforementioned Bath athletes.

• Freya Anderson – 100m/200m/400m freestyle
• Tom Dean – 200m free/200m IM
• James Guy – 100m fly/200m fly
• Anna Hopkin – 50m free/100m free
• Jacob Peters – relays only as of right now
• Matt Richards – relays only as of right now
• Brodie Williams – 200m back/400m IM

British athletes have a particularly busy summer ahead of them, with these World Championships, then Commonwealth Games then European Championships on their agendas.

Bath Performance Centre lead coach Dave McNulty is relishing the amount of racing that lays ahead, saying, “I’ve been coaching for over 30 years and the most we’ve had in a year is two major meets, so to have a Worlds, Commonwealths and Euros in 10 weeks is something completely different.

“We’re going to target each one at a time and the biggest comes first as it’s a world event. We’ll then have four weeks before the Commonwealths where we’ll do a double taper, increasing the workload for two weeks before coming back down again.

“It’s not easy to do physically or mentally because normally you would have a break after a championships, so as a coach I have to sell that to the athletes. It’s a plan I believe in and hopefully they will too.”

Reigning 200m free Olympic gold medalist Dean points to his trust in the process in getting the squad through each meet successfully.

“I’m excited for the next few weeks. It’s going to be pretty crazy but I have every faith that Dave will get us in the best shape possible for each competition.”

As far as how it feels heading into his first major international competition since having earned his aforementioned individual gold in Tokyo, Dean says,  “It’s the first time I’ll be stepping on the world stage with a target on my back.

“It could be an added degree of pressure but I wouldn’t have it any other way, I’m going out there as Olympic Champion and the man with the fastest time in the world. That gives me a great source of confidence.

Dean is ranked 6th in the world for the 2021/22 season, having clocked a mark of 1:45.73 at April’s British Swimming Championships. His winning time of 1:44.22 from the 2020 Olympic Games renders him the 6th fastest performer of all time in the 200m free.

“I went to Tokyo and delivered the performance I wanted, I didn’t let the event get the better of me, so that’s my aim for the World Championships too.”

19-year-old Richards also is looking forward to racing the rest of the world after his men’s 800m free relay gold from Tokyo.

“I got my first real taste of senior competition in Tokyo last summer and being able to stand on top of the podium at that level was incredible. I gained so much experience and it’s given me a taste for it now, I just want to do it again and again and again.

“It’s all about continued progression this summer, looking to improve from where we were last year and finding the areas where we can grab a tenth of a second here or a hundredth of a second there.”

Finally, for her part, Anderson says, “It’s going to be a hectic schedule but you focus on what you have coming up each day. Training has been going really well, it’s been a really consistent block since January, and I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do at the Worlds. Hopefully I can produce the swims I know I’m capable of.”