European Champs Medalist Signe Bro Moves to Spain to Train with Ben Titley

Danish sprinter Signe Bro has moved to Sant Cugat, Spain to train at the National Training Center under newly appointed head coach Ben Titley. Bro won a bronze medal on the Danish women’s 4×100 free relay at the 2018 LC European Championships.

She’s primarily a 100 freestyler, having qualified for semifinals in the event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last summer. Bro swam her lifetime best of 53.54 in prelims, finishing 13th, then went on to match the performance, swimming a 53.55 in semifinals. Although she was 0.01 seconds slower in semifinals than prelims, she moved up one spot, finishing 12th. However, she was a bit off what it took to qualify for the Olympic final, as Great Britain’s Anna Hopkin was 8th in semifinals with a 53.11.

Now 23 years old, Bro told SwimSwam that she arrived in Spain less than two weeks ago. Prior to her move, she was training at the National Training Center in Denmark under coach Jon Langberg, where she’d been since 2016.

Bro also told SwimSwam she’s been struggling mentally to stay engaged with the sport after the Olympics last summer, and was unsure if she wanted to continue swimming due to those struggles. She also noted that she’s pulled out of many championship meets this summer because she’s been “anxious and not willing to put myself out there.”

“Then I heard that Ben was going to be here in Spain and I though that that would be a good way to start over. I didn’t know him but as a freestyler I knew of his swimmers so I just reached out and he was positive. I just want to know with myself that I’ve done everything that I possibly can and that I had fun and challenged myself on the way. Then it can have every possible outcome but I’ll always know that I did my best. That’s just really important to me” – Signe Bro

Bro is the type of swimmer that Titley has been highly successful with. During his tenure at HPC Ontario in Canada, Titley coached a number of elite women’s 100/200 freestylers, including Penny Oleksiak, Taylor Ruck, and Kayla Sanchez, to name a few. Of course, young teenage phenom Summer McIntosh has also entered that category, breaking the World Junior Record in the girls LCM 200 free at the World Championships this summer, though that was after Titley left HPC Ontario.

Here are Bro’s LCM lifetime bests:

• 50 free – 25.36
• 100 free – 53.54
• 200 free -1:58.64

When it was announced that Titley would be heading up the training group in Sant Cugat, there was speculation as to whether he would attract swimmers from around Europe to come train with him, given his enormous success in Canada. Bro’s move from Denmark could be the first step in that direction.

Speaking of Titley’s success in Canada, Kylie Masse, who trained under Titley at HPC Ontario, has also been seen in videos training at Sant Cugat with Titley. Masse is one of the premier women’s backstrokers in the world currently. She’s a former World Record holder in the LCM 100 back and a three-time World Champion backstroker and four-time Olympic medalist.

SwimSwam has reached out to Masse for details on her return to Titley, but she hasn’t responded to our request. That being said, it’s still unclear whether Masse has officially made the move to Spain to continue training under Titley, or if she’s just making a stop to reunite with Titley for a while. On that same note, sources have told SwimSwam that Masse was in Sant Cugat training with Titley prior to the Commonwealth Games in July.

At the Commonwealth Games in late July, Masse won gold in the women’s 50 back, also winning silver medals in the 100 back, 200 back, women’s 4×100 medley relay and mixed 4×100 medley relay.