Nine English swimmers have been selected out of a group of 13 British athletes to represent Aquatics GB in the pool and marathon swimming events at the European Aquatics Championships.
European senior and junior medallists are amongst the group taking to the pool in June whilst the Olympic marathon swimming team continue their preparations for Paris at the event.
The Olympic Games-bound trio of Leah Crisp,
Toby Robinson and Wales’ Hector Pardoe will start off the action when they take to the open water on 12 June.
World Championship bronze medallist Pardoe and three-time World Championship competitor Robinson (both Loughborough University) will contest the men’s 10km event as they build towards the Olympic race in August, while Bath Performance Centre athlete Crisp will line up for the women’s 10km race as she prepares for her Olympic debut.
Five days later and a young cohort of British swimmers will look to make their mark on the senior international stage.
Amongst the ten athletes selected is Ed Mildred, who won Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay silver and Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay bronze at the last European Championships in Rome two years ago.
He looks set to lead the team in the Serbian capital with the Bath Performance Centre athlete the only one of the ten to who have competed at a senior long course event in a Great Britain cap.
He’ll be joined by an exciting young team which includes a trio of medallists from the 2023 European Junior Championships – also in Belgrade – who are selected for their maiden senior GB team, including City of Leeds’ Leah Schlosshan, a double European Junior champion in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley across the previous two seasons.
Joshua Gammon (Bath University) defended his Men’s 200m Butterfly British title a few weeks ago and placed second in the 100m event to earn his call-up, Alexander Painter (Millfield) reached the 50m and 100m Freestyle finals in London and Fleur Lewis (Loughborough University) took British silver across both Women’s 800m and 1500m Freestyle events.
Swim England DiSE (Diploma in Sporting Excellence) alumni Calvin Fry and Bath Performance Centre athlete Jack Skerry complete the English contingent that are heading to Belgrade.