On the heels of British Swimming announcing its 6-strong Open Water lineup for the 2019 World Championships, we now know the nation’s swimmers selected for the European Junior Open Water Championships.
Slated for the Czech village of Racice August 1st-4th, the European Junior Open Water Championships will see Isaac Dodds, Nathan Hughes, Maisie Macartney, Iona MacLeod and more take to racing for GBR, with Kent-based Macartney doubling up on the Senior World Championships in Gwangju the month prior.
The original selection meet for British consideration was the Great North Swim Elite 5k at Lake Windermere on June 8th. However, with that event having been canceled, the roster of junior open water swimmers was selected at the complete discretion of the British Swimming Marathon Lead, Bernie Dietzig, in consultation with the Head of Elite Development, Tim Jones.
Of the squad, Dietzig states, “As well as the more experienced marathon swimmers highlighted, the team also includes some athletes that are new to this level of competition and it will be really beneficial to expose them to this type of environment early in their careers. This is a really exciting group of swimmers and we are confident that it will be another successful event for Great Britain.”
The foursome of Macartney, Pardoe, Ioan Evans, and Sansome combined to take 5k team bronze at the 2017 edition of these Championships, but last year the Brits came up medal-less. Of note, the relays at the 2018 edition of the European Junior Open Water Championships were canceled.
Athletes selected to represent Great Britain:
Isaac Dodds
Nathan Hughes
Jackson O’Rourke
Hector Pardoe
Jevon Penny
Ella Dyson
Maisie Macartney
Iona MacLeod
Amelia Rodd
Emilia Sansome