British Swimming Roster of 37 Ready for 2017 European Junior Champs

by Taylor Brien

26 June 2017, 11:01am

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):

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

Named for TYR, the Norse god of warriors, our company is committed to cultivating a culture of greatness, both in and out of the water. Through vision and American ingenuity, we have become a brand synonymous with the athlete. From the planning stages to the production floor, everything we do revolves around synthesizing creativity, experience and competition. For us, engineering the most advanced performance products is more than just a goal, it’s a requirement. Learn more at www.tyr.com.

Press release courtesy of British Swimming

Subscribe

Login

Notify of

new follow-up comments new replies to my comments

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

1 Comment

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Helen Butterfield

6 years ago

Good luck to Layla, Ciara and Leah.

0

Reply