The 30-year-old moved to Stratford, east London, shortly after his return from Paris where he claimed the one medal that had eluded him during a career in which he\u2019s stood atop the world, European and Commonwealth podiums.<\/p>\n
Proud was fourth in the 50 free at Rio 2016<\/strong> and five years later in Tokyo, a joint fifth-place finish alongside Kristian Gkolomeev<\/strong> left him desolate and on the brink of retirement.<\/p>\n l-r: Ben Proud, Cam McEvoy, Florent Manaudou: Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala, Deepbluemedia<\/p><\/div>\n Fast-forward to Paris and a raucous La D\u00e9fense Arena on the night of 2 August 2024. After 21.30secs in the water, Proud got his hand to the wall and the silver medal was his behind champion Cameron McEvoy<\/strong> with Florent Manaudou<\/strong> claiming his fourth straight Olympic medal in third.<\/p>\n Proud told Swimming World:<\/p>\n \u201cFor me the medal felt like it was catching up for what I deserved in a way. I do feel like I\u2019ve been in and among the best sprinters in the world for a long time and been missing out on Olympic medals. I felt like I\u2019d earned the right to have one for myself. So, it felt very calming to know that I\u2019d finally achieved it and I could move on with my life.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There was, he says, a sense of relief.<\/p>\n \u201cLeading into it, I didn\u2019t need the medal as much as other years. I didn\u2019t need to perform and be on the podium but at the same time there\u2019s always that nagging voice in your head that\u2019s like you do need it, you do want it.<\/p>\n \u201cThat for me was the battle in the 24 hours leading into the final, just riling myself up into the state that I just want to perform and swim the swim I\u2019ve been training for and everything else doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a really nervous moment. You touch the wall; you turn around and there\u2019s this time between finishing and the wave that\u2019s following you crashing into you. You have a split-second to see a glimpse of the board and I saw my name followed by second so that was a huge weight off the shoulders, a big relief. I wasn\u2019t ecstatic \u2013 I think if I\u2019d won gold like Cam it\u2019d be very different – but a silver is a very pleasing place to be. It was a relief knowing I can get that \u2013 if I hadn\u2019t achieved it that night, I think it would have been tough, but I would have carried on with my life and been okay.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It was his best experience in the sport, one where he enjoyed the process of the race, the outcome and the ceremony where he got to collect the medal itself. This time there were no misgivings or questions.<\/p>\n \u201cEven before when I\u2019d won medals or titles, I\u2019d still always have an element of doubt in my mind which would be like maybe someone wasn\u2019t there, maybe I wasn\u2019t performing at my best, or something was quite off. Whereas that night at the Olympics was just perfect. It was all I could have wanted. I felt I\u2019d swum a swim that was exactly what I could do, I couldn\u2019t have done it much better and I think I did as well as I could so I was able to enjoy that experience. To be there with Flo was quite a special one because we shared a lot over the past few years.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He enjoyed a low-key evening with friends before coming down with flu-like symptoms which continued for around 10 days after his return from the French capital with Proud consigned to his bed in his Stratford apartment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was quite nice in a way because it meant I had so much time to decompress alone and basically come back to earth. By the time I got better and I was doing more social things life just felt very normal again. It was so weird to think I\u2019d been at the Olympics two weeks prior. Which for me the way I am, that\u2019s how I enjoy it the most. I don\u2019t think I wanted any big celebrations or parties or things like that, I just wanted to get back to my life and to be with my brother and go for food and have good coffee and all these things.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n Proud has traversed the world during his swimming odyssey stopping off at Kuala Lumpur, Plymouth, Bath, Hawaii and Gloria in T\u00fcrkiye. There he developed his own programme which was overseen by James Gibson<\/strong> with input from strength and conditioning coach Marco Cosso.<\/p>\n After finding it hard to replicate that set-up and focus in London, Proud turned to Lisa Bates<\/strong>, the head coach of the Chelsea and Westminster club that train at the Aquatics Centre.<\/p>\n Bates, who is also on the GB coaching team at the World Championships in Singapore, has, says Proud, \u201ccome in to fill the shoes of James to keep me honest, keep me in the water and we\u2019re building this working relationship now.\u201d<\/p>\n A good working relationship with pool operator Everyone Active means Proud can book a lane whenever he needs it \u2013 \u201clane nine is my place.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s still trying to find the right balance and in post-Olympic year has stepped back from the intensity of previous years.<\/p>\n \u201cTry new things, see what works, take a few lessons from Cam\u2019s book, which I\u2019ve tried but I don\u2019t think it works for me so I\u2019m trying to cultivate my own new system that I think works better for me. It\u2019s all trial and error but this year is the year to come down \u2013 emotionally come down from a couple of years of high intensity and try and strike a balance that will keep me swimming a little bit longer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n At the start of the year, he trialled doing two or three swims a week plus gym and up until the time of the British trials in April, he was doing roughly 2.5\/3k per week in the pool.<\/p>\n By late June, that had increased to 12k across seven swim sessions per week with a couple of gym sessions.<\/p>\n When he\u2019s not at the Aquatic Centre or his apartment, Proud enjoys going into the city to catch up with the likes of three-time Olympic champion Tom Dean<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cTom is a real go-getter: he loves London and we meet each other in the city quite often. I\u2019m such an introvert \u2013 I love staying in my place and having my time and having my coffee and my music, my little world. But then the beautiful thing is that in 20 minutes I can be in central London having a beer or a catch-up with a close friend. That for me is the perfect balance: I can tuck myself away and disappear for a month and get into training. But then every now and again I can just pop into London and see a friend.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m making the most of London living but I have the opportunity to strike that balance and London really works for me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n His long-term plan is to stay in good enough shape to consider the LA Games in 2028 as an option while taking it one year at a time. The initial plan was to spend a year in London to see whether living in one of the world\u2019s great cities and swimming can go hand in hand.<\/p>\n It also gives Proud the opportunity to learn about himself.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent so many years away that I just want to be a bit normal really. I haven\u2019t had that normality in life for so long trying to figure out who Ben Proud the person is and it\u2019s nice to have my own things and have a place I can call my own and at 30 years old, it\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve been able to do that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n Proud will take on the 50 free and 50 fly at the World Championships. His season\u2019s best in the former stands at 21.67 en-route to the British title in April, making him the joint eighth-swiftest performer in 2025 with McEvoy atop the rankings in 21.30.<\/p>\n The Briton is the only man to have simultaneously held the world, Commonwealth and European 50 free titles, a feat he accomplished in the summer of 2022. Proud has subsequently won bronze at the two editions since Budapest 2022.<\/p>\n He won the 50 fly world title at Budapest 2017 and he points to how the event \u2013 which will be contested at LA2028 – has moved on in terms of speed. Ilya Kharun<\/strong> tops the rankings in 22.68 with Proud\u2019s 2025 best standing at 23.20 at the Sette Colli.<\/p>\n Proud, whose British record stands at 22.75 en-route to the 2017 world crown, said: \u201cThe 50 fly has become an event \u00a0which suddenly everyone is able to do and everyone is swimming really fast. My hopes for that are that it\u2019s a bit more open and I\u2019m not holding myself accountable to being in the final or making the podium: it really depends what my body can produce. I back myself in the ability to perform as well as I can under the pressure but because there are so many people now who are swimming 22.7 or quicker, it\u2019s tough to compete against that.<\/p>\n \u201cThe focus is still on the freestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n Born in London, Proud grew up in Kuala Lumpur after his parents Nick and Sally moved to the Malaysian capital. His talent caught the eye of coach Francis Kiu<\/strong> who guided him until he was 16 when he moved to Plymouth College.<\/p>\n He\u2019s spent a lot of time in the region and returned there in 2021 to spend time working with Kiu.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cThe fact that world champs is coming to Singapore and I still have a lot of close ties to Malaysia meant last year in the back of my mind (I thought) it\u2019ll be something good to aim for and good to achieve.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does strike a good note; dad will be an hour\u2019s flight away and it\u2019s going to be exciting to have a bit more familiarity with the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" World Championships: Ben Proud On “Perfect” Paris, Living In London & Finding A Balance Ben Proud sits in his apartment, a few minutes\u2019 walk from the London Aquatics Centre which<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7575,"featured_media":594140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122074,10],"tags":[70619,26834,133840,27536,35046,136534,129981,10045,26999,38533,131189,57812,66654,24634],"class_list":["post-617675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-europe","category-world","tag-2025-world-aquatics-championships","tag-ben-proud","tag-budapest-2022","tag-cameron-mcevoy","tag-florent-manaudou","tag-francis-kiu","tag-ilya-kharun","tag-james-gibson","tag-kristian-gkolomeev","tag-lisa-bates","tag-marco-cosso","tag-paris-2024","tag-tom-dean","tag-world-championships"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n![\"Cam](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/20240802_GSca_SG73783-700x500.jpg\")
London Calling As Proud Seeks A Balance<\/h3>\n
![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230723_Swimming_STA5279-700x500.jpg\")
Looking To Singapore<\/h3>\n
![\"Benjamin](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230723_Swimming_STA5330-700x500.jpg\")