Courtesy: British Swimming
Paralympic, world and European champions are among the athletes to have been invited on to British Para-Swimming’s World Class Programme (WCP) for 2022, as attentions turn to a busy year and building towards Paris 2024.
After a memorable performance at Tokyo 2020 that saw the British team amass 26 medals in the pool, a total of 34 athletes have been invited to be part of either the Podium or Podium Potential tiers for the nine months from 1st January 2022. That period includes June’s Para-Swimming World Championships in Madeira and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The Podium group includes a host of standout Paralympic performers, with Reece Dunn, Maisie Summers-Newton and Bethany Firth – who all claimed multiple titles in Tokyo – among the list. The likes of Louis Lawlor, Will Perry and Leah O’Connell are included at Podium Potential level, with British Para-Swimming looking to continue its position as one of the sport’s leading nations.
The athletes split across Podium and Podium Potential tiers will receive programme opportunities and targeted financial assistance from UK Sport through the World Class Performance Programme’s Athlete Performance Award (APA).
Athletes selected on to World Class programmes are also eligible to benefit from competition and training camp opportunities throughout the season in which they are selected, with access to world-class sports science and medicine services available, on top of comprehensive support from British Para-Swimming performance staff and national Institute of Sport programmes across the UK.
Of the 2022 cohort, British Para-Swimming Head Coach Rob Aubry said: “We are really excited by the group that we have been able to invite on to our programmes after a memorable Paralympic Games, as we look to kick on from that performance into 2022 and the next, shortened Games cycle.
“There was no shortage of standout swims in Tokyo, and we know our Podium and Podium Potential groups will do everything they can to keep those high standards in competition, as well as in their training and preparation, something we will support them in at every single stage.
“The fact that there are so many young athletes on programme is so promising. The way these swimmers and many more have dealt with the challenges of the past two years says even more about their character and the good they are doing for British Para-Swimming, in and out of the pool.”
The 2022 Academy selections will be made later in the season, following December’s British Para-Swimming Winter National Meet in Swansea.
World Class Programme
Podium
- Jessica-Jane Applegate, City of Norwich Swimming Club (England)
- Jordan Catchpole, Waveney Swimming Club (England)
- Ellie Challis, National Performance Centre (England)
- Stephen Clegg, Edinburgh University (Scotland)
- Reece Dunn, Plymouth Leander Swimming Club (England)
- Louise Fiddes, Hatfield Swimming Club (England)
- Bethany Firth, ARDS Swimming Club (Northern Ireland)
- Thomas Hamer, National Performance Centre (England)
- Grace Harvey, National Performance Centre (England)
- Suzanna Hext, Swindon ASC (England)
- Tully Kearney, National Performance Centre (England)
- Zara Mullooly, University of Leeds (England)
- Scott Quin, Edinburgh University (Scotland)
- Rebecca Redfern, Worcester Swimming Club (England)
- Hannah Russell, National Performance Centre (England)
- Toni Shaw, University of Stirling (Scotland)
- Maisie Summers-Newton, Northampton Swimming Club (England)
- Alice Tai, Ealing Swimming Club (England)
- Brock Whiston, Barking and Dagenham (England)
- Podium Potential
- Dylan Broom, Torfaen Dolphins Performance Centre (Wales)
- Oliver Carter, University of Stirling (Scotland)
- Eliza Humphrey, Northampton Swimming Club (England)
- Scarlett Humphrey, Northampton Swimming Club (England)
- George Kelman-Johns, Gloucester City Swimming Club (England)
- Louis Lawlor, City of Glasgow Swimming Club (Scotland)
- Lyndon Longhorne, Derwentside ASC (England)
- Jack Milne, Dundee City Aquatics Swimming Club (Scotland)
- Conner Morrison, University of Aberdeen Swim Team (Scotland)
- Andrew Mullen, City of Glasgow Swimming Club (Scotland)
- Megan Neave, Repton Swimming Club (England)
- Leah O’Connell, National Performance Centre (England)
- William Perry, Northampton Swimming Club (England)
- Georgia Sheffield, City of Salford Swimming Club (England)
- Zach Washington-Young, National Performance Centre (England)