13 swimmers will be representing Great Britain at the European Championships in Belgrade, Serbia next month. The roster includes 3 swimmers that are slated to compete in the marathon swimming event, while 10 are focused on the pool swimming events. The marathon will take place on June 12th before pool action kicks off from the 17th through the 23rd.
Team GB’s roster is led by Ed Mildred, a medalist at the 2022 European Championships in Rome. At that meet, he claimed two medals in relay events, highlighted by a silver in the mixed 4×100 freestyle relay. His highest individual finish came in the 100 butterfly, where he touched in 51.79 for 9th overall.
19-year-old rising star Leah Schlosshan was also named to the roster. She won the 200 IM at the junior edition of these championships in both 2022 and 2023. In 2022, she finished in a time of 2:13.49 before improving to 2:12.41 en route to victory in 2023. She placed 4th in the event at last month’s British Olympic Trials with a best time of 2:11.65. She’s been on a clear progression for the past few years and will have the opportunity to earn her first senior international medal.
The roster does not feature many of the nation’s top ranked swimmers, such as world record holder Adam Peaty and Olympic Champions Duncan Scott, Tom Dean, Matt Richards, James Guy, and Anna Hopkin. The swimming portion of the 2024 Olympics is scheduled for just over a month after the European Championships, so their focus is fully on that competition. Back in 2021, however, all of those same swimmers competed at the European Championships in Budapest prior to the Tokyo Olympics. There was a lengthier two month gap between the meets in 2021 though, which provided them more training time between the competitions.
Aquatics GB Head of Performance Development Alan Lynn says of the squad announcement, “All 10 of the athletes selected for the pool swimming team produced some brilliant performances at the recent Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, and showed that they could deliver big swims when it mattered, in a packed and intense competition environment.”
“Heading into the summer, we know each swimmer will be looking to build on those swims to progress their experience and target season’s bests in Belgrade, when they will come up against a host of strong international athletes, including plenty who will be building towards the Olympics a few weeks down the line.
“This is a pool that holds fond memories for a few of this group after a fantastic European Juniors last July when we saw the likes of Leah, Matthew and Holly put in some outstanding swims, and hopefully that is something they can harness a year on.
“As for Hector, Leah Crisp and Toby in the marathon events, their focuses are very much on producing their best in Paris about seven weeks after the European Championships, so we know they will use this high-level racing opportunity as a key stepping stone towards the Olympics and to provide further indication of where they are at after some strong work in training over the months since February’s World Championships.”
See Team GB’s rosters for the championships below.
Pool Roster:
- Calvin Fry, Loughborough University (England)
- Joshua Gammon, Bath University (England)
- Lucy Grieve, University of Stirling (Scotland)
- Fleur Lewis, Loughborough University (England)
- Holly McGill, University of Stirling (Scotland)
- Ed Mildred, Bath Performance Centre (England)
- Alexander Painter, Millfield (England)
- Leah Schlosshan, City of Leeds (England)
- Jack Skerry, Bath Performance Centre (England)
- Matthew Ward, Bath Performance Centre (Scotland)
Open Water Roster:
- Leah Crisp, Bath Performance Centre (England)
- Hector Pardoe, Loughborough University (Wales)
- Toby Robinson, Loughborough University (England)
With no top level swimmers from GB, Netherlands or Italy attending and Russia still banned by LEN. Its going to be a very limited depth of competition I fear at these champs. A shame because in 2021, the Euroes before Tokyo were stacked.
I agree, but the timing of the meet is dreadful, and that’s no-one’s fault but the organisers. Some programs from European nations are less laser focussed on Paris, and a bit more ‘grab your chances while the grabbing’s good” – it’ll be interesting to see which nations sends the big guns, what shape the big guns are in, and how it might affect Paris.
Don’t think Ed Mildred should be picked didn’t swim that well at trials and pretty sure Fleur Lewis didn’t pb, also should of took George Smith. Apparently they only wanted to take swimmers born 03 as think Kara Hanlon deserved to go
It’s ‘should have taken….’ or ‘should take..’
Since when is this site a grammar lesson? If so think you need to read some of the other comments!
Kara Hanlon didn’t Pb in her main event and is about 30 years old. She had her chance with Olympic selection and didn’t deliver.
Agree some others could have been on the team and Mildred is fortunate he falls in the years selected. Hopefully he leaves Bath for the LA cycle!
Kara Hanlon is 26! not 30!
Just checked ‘97 born, so pretty close to 30!
Wish this meet was in late May when there’s a lull in championship meets
They really should’ve pre-capped the team at 16 not 10. Evie Davis, Erin Little, Tyler Melbourne-S, George Smith, Sienna Robinson and Evan Jones deserved a nomination as well; not taking away from the nominated 10 who fully deserved their selection as well.
Cost would be my guess why the cap is at 10
Why do all the top stars attend the one in Budapest before Tokyo? Anyone know?
Earlier in cycle?
Euros were a month earlier in 2021. I guess Aquatics GB aren’t sending the Olympic team this time as they’re worried it may disrupt Olympic prep and some may swim faster at euros than at the Olympics (Like Cassie Wild etc. did in 2021).
Too many of them peaked at Euros in 2021.
Im not a massive fan of this argument as the likes of USA and Aus are having their trials at the same time as the Euros meaning swimmers from these countries will have to peak in both June and just over a month later at Paris.
I suspect given GB sent a big squad to Doha, cost is coming into the equation here by only selecting a slimmed down team.