A team of 37 young athletes will compete at the LEN European Junior Championships this week in what, for many, will be the first time they have flown the Union flag in international waters.
And British Swimming Head of Elite Development Tim Jones believes the event, held in Netanya, Israel from 28 June to 2 July, will fuel the aspirations of athletes as they work towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and beyond.
“We wanted to give opportunities to a large group of juniors to race internationally this year and this 37 strong group of athletes supports that aim,” explained Jones.
“I’m looking for the hidden gems within the programme and this event offers a great opportunity to unearth these. I want athletes to embrace what this important event has to offer and to use it to take their sport to the next level. I want it to inspire while unearthing some diamonds.”
Selection was earned at the British Swimming Championships in April and follows a strategy aimed at inspiring a generation of young athletes to commit to a journey towards Tokyo 2020 Olympic success by exposing them to high level junior international competition.
“This is a great opportunity for this group of athletes. We are at the beginning of an Olympic cycle and there is no reason why this talented group can’t put themselves into contention for the Tokyo games in 2020,” said Jones.
“The British team at the European Juniors in 2014 featured the likes of Duncan Scott, Holly Hibbott, Luke Greenbank and Rosie Rudin. They were in the same position then and successfully transitioned to the seniors. This year they will all compete at the World Championships and there is no reason why this group of athletes can’t push towards the senior team by the end of this cycle.”
Jones has tasked the group with adopting key national team principles and processes which he believes will help to deliver success over the five days of competition.
“We’re going to have lots of swimmers progressing through to finals and pushing towards the medals but the focus will be on the processes they need to follow and then I’m sure the results will come to us. The event is very much an education for these guys and reinforcing our national team processes is key.
“We are filling the events as much as we can with four athletes entered in many but only two will be able to progress into the semi-finals. It’s going to be a tough week as the standard of athletes is good but we have a team that has real strength and will be competitive.
“As a team we’ve discussed how they we are going to be judged at this event and it will be on our professionalism and how we apply the processes rather than the outcome. If we do that well we know the scoreboard will show us the right result.”
The British Swimming team selected for the European Junior Championships comprises (boys aged 15-18, girls aged 14-17):
| Tom | Beeley | University of Aberdeen | Scotland |
| Kieran | Bird | Millfield School | England |
| Layla | Black | City of Leeds SC | England |
| Lily | Boseley | City of Sheffield | England |
| Connor | Bryan | City of Oxford SC | Wales |
| Harry | Constantine | Hatfield SC | England |
| Leah | Crisp | City of Leeds SC | England |
| Oliver | Crosby | Stockport Metro SC | England |
| Thomas | Dean | Maidenhead ASC | England |
| Harry | Devlin | York City Baths Club | England |
| James | Eddy | Wycombe District SC | England |
| Angharad | Evans | West Sufflolk Swimming Club | England |
| Anna | Fleming | City of Glasgow Swim Team | Scotland |
| Lewis | Fraser | City of Swansea | Wales |
| Jakob | Goodman | Millfield School | England |
| Jacob | Greenow | Taunton Deane SC | England |
| Phoebe | Griffiths | Ellesmere College Titans SC | England |
| Elizabeth | Harris | Stockport Metro SC | England |
| Isabel | Jones | Millfield School | Scotland |
| Jasmine | McCrea | Poole SC | England |
| James | McFadzen | Wycombe District SC | England |
| Scott | McLay | Perth City | Scotland |
| Laura | McNab | Team Bath AS | England |
| Amelia | Monaghan | City of Peterborough SC | England |
| Jahrel | Murphy | Ealing SC | England |
| Jessica | Podger | City of Bristol | England |
| Nicholas | Pyle | Newcastle Swim Team | England |
| Joshua | Reasbeck | Doncaster Dartes SC | England |
| Ryan | Retson | F.I.R.S.T | Scotland |
| Luke | Robins | Millfield School | Scotland |
| Ciara | Schlosshan | City of Leeds SC | England |
| Ellinor | Southward | Ellesmere College Titans SC | England |
| Isabel | Spinley | Deepings SC | England |
| Tony-Joe | Trett Oliver | Mount Kelly Swimming | England |
| Rachel | Wellings | City of Peterborough SC | England |
| Mason | Wilby | Loughborough Uni / University of Florida | England |
| Alicia | Wilson | Guildford City Swimming Club | England |
About British Swimming
British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Para-Swimming, Diving, High Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain. It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (ASA), Scotland (Scottish ASA) and Wales (Welsh ASA). British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games. Learn more at www.britishswimming.org.
About UK Sport
Every athlete who has received National Lottery funding will have a story to tell of the difference that it has made to their Olympic or Paralympic dream. But the simple truth is that the National Lottery has taken sport in the UK to a new level. Each successive Games proves that there is no longer any margin for error if you want the top prize. Medals are won and lost by the smallest possible margins – the power of UK Sport’s National Lottery investment is in its ability to seek out those tenths, hundredths or even thousandths of a second, wherever they exist, and make sure that if there’s a close call, British athletes emerge on the winning side. Learn more at www.uksport.gov.uk.
About TYR
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Press release courtesy of British Swimming
Good luck to Layla, Ciara and Leah.