54 athletes have been named to British Swimming’s World Class Performance Program for the 2018/19 season, including Olympic medalists Adam Peaty, James Guy, Duncan Scott and Siobhan Marie O’Connor.
Following an extensive selection procedure, which takes into account an analysis of athletes’ current and past performances to gauge Olympic medal potential, the chosen athletes are eligible to receive training camp and competition opportunities throughout the season. They also have access to world-class sports science and medicine services, as well as enhanced support from British Swimming performance staff and National Institute of Sport programmes across the UK. Athletes will also receive targeted financial assistance from UK Sport through the World Class Performance Programme’s Athlete Performance Award (APA).
Notable names missing from the 2018/19 season’s Performance Program squad include 2018 Commonwealth Games 400m IM gold and silver medalists Aimee Willmott and Hannah Miley. Both women were named to the 2018 line-up with the following notation, ‘Selected up to and including the Commonwealth Games, reviewed April 2018.’ This time around, it’s Jessica Fullalove, Jarvis Parkinson and British national record holder Jocelyn Ulyett whose funding is on offer through April 2019.
A shot of young blood was injected into the roster in the form of 2016 World Junior Champion and World Championships semi-finalist Freya Anderson, who recently collected 4 relay medals at the 2018 European Championships, as well as 2 relay medals at the Commonwealth Games this year. Teammates Jacob Peters and Nicholas Pyle, both emerging British age national record holders, are also among those selected.
British Swimming National Performance Director Chris Spice said of the selection, “2018 proved a successful one for the World Class programme culminating in our home European Championships where we won our most medals in history (19 in Olympic events). This was on the back of a highly successful meet in Finland with our European Junior squad which has made this selection all the more difficult.
“We selected a much larger team at the European’s than we normally would with seventeen new members selected to the senior team last season. As a result, we unearthed some exciting youngsters and the focus is to maximise our efforts in the next two years.
“We will be returning to our much tighter selection policy next year for the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju as we head into the final year of the 2020 Olympic cycle.
“We look forward to working with the athletes and their coaches to move our performances forward in this very important season.”
Just a friendly reminder that British swimmers Dan Wallace, Andrew Willis, Lizzie Simmonds and Christopher Walker-Hebborn all retired this year. Also, Jazz Carlin, two-time silver medalist from Rio, is taking a break from swimming, with British Swimming stating, “Jazz is taking time out at the moment to get ready for the season after a difficult year with illness and injury.”
*seven month offer (until end April 2019), subject to target
No Mark Szaranek?
Trains in the US got to be resident in Britain
Gemma Spofforth was funded while living in USA in 2012 wasnt she? A few track athletes living in USA receive funding too. Proud & Davies live in Turkey at the moment too with Energy Standard.
I believe Szaranak missed out because Litchfield is a cut above. Still, he is more deserving that a few others on the list.
Szaranek has improved year on year, currently 12th in the world with 2 seasons best times this year. I take it you are referring to Max who performs at a high level (as his brother has also been funded).
So did Dan Wallace and Adam Brown at points when being funded…
All the ‘politics’ of funding aside, I really hope we see Jazz Carlin in the water healthy again before she hangs up her goggles.
Her best times, all textile, read as a remarkable achievment: 1.56/4.01/8.15/15.47 How many can match it? She did it all with worse turns than Janet Evans in the 80s, and that came from Bud McAllister’s own mouth. A real ‘swimmers swimmer’ and she deserves a special place in British swimming history for her class in and out the pool.
Her decision to move to open water doesn’t make that much sense to me, and it clearly hasn’t been a smooth transition. I’m not sure that we’ll see her back in her previous form (or possibly at all) which is a real shame.
A little surprised at Willmott omission. New programme last season break through podium swim, ok times not great but could be a catalyst to better things this season. Maybe similar to other funded until April anyway.
No surprise most athlete selected are in Bath,Loughborough and Stirling they get the support an athlete needs over what many clubs can offer, giving the athlete the best chance of performing.
Apparently ‘the primary role of UK Sport is to strategically invest National Lottery and Exchequer income to maximise the performance of UK athletes in the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the global events which precede them. … Direct to athlete funding in the shape of an Athlete Performance Award (APA).’
So British Swimming have discharged this responsibility to Furniss, Spice and Jones (they would be better off with Alas Smith and Jones…) to ensure that up to 54 athletes are nominated for this funding – they claim that they have a finite amount of funding. It is supposed to be used to ensure the UK’s most talented athletes maximise their chances.
What they actually get are malignant narcissists who have… Read more »
Too bad British swimming didn’t publish their “extensive selection criteria” anywhere. It’s puzzling why Willmott and Miley are left off this list. Do they just not like them anymore? Did they retire and I missed the news? Injured? Is this a Scotland/Wales/England rule that my N.American mind can’t figure out?
I don’t understand how they justify leaving Hannah Miley and Aimee Willmott off and funding some of the other names on there (eg Jocelyn Ulyett, who didn’t have a great year and didn’t even swim at Europeans).
Funding relates to Olympic/World Podium probability in either Tokyo or Paris, arguably the two mentioned have vastly higher chance in the short term than most on the list and, must feel somewhat aggrieved at there omission over other athletes.
More interesting the number of athletes based in Loughborough, Bath + Stirling over anyone else!
How have they satisfied themselves that Abbie wood or Georgia Coates have a better chance than HM/AW of making the team for/performing in Tokyo? It makes no sense. Miley has just had ankle surgery and I don’t think anyone would have been surprised to see her decide to retire after a Home event in Glasgow, but there’s been no announcement to that effect, and I don’t think AW is at the same stage of her career.
Genuinely baffling. Seems to be quite a few fringe relay swimmers on this list who are nowhere near individual standard of HM and AW…
VERY surprised to not see Josh Kenway listed here. Such a promising athlete that never seems to get the respect he deserves.