Aquatics GB has confirmed their funding lists for 2025 with 57 swimmers allocated spots across the two tiers of support. This announcement has come later than usual, perhaps reflecting the change in head coach to Steven Tigg late in 2024 and the need to give him time to get across the programmes, but his influence is hard to discern, with the selections carrying a great deal of consistency with previous years at the top level, and no greater turnover at the lower tier.
Podium
The podium funding group grows by one as five swimmers drop out and six are added.
Amongst the additions, there are no great surprises. Jack McMillan and Hector Pardoe are promoted from last year’s potential tier, while Olympic finalises Honey Osrin, Angharad Evans, and Max Litchfield are all added. The final new selection is Kieran Bird who was a key cog in the gold medal winning 4x200m relay machine in Paris.
Anna Hopkin, Dan Jervis and Brodie Williams have all announced retirements from elite swimming so there are no surprises in seeing them omitted, but there were no spaces for Adam Peaty or James Wilby. The former is training at Repton, but it’s not clear how committed to racing this year he will be and maybe this omission reflects that uncertainty, while for Wilby is this a first indication that he may be contemplating retirement?
What’s perhaps more interesting on this list are some of the new squads listed. Freya Anderson is confirmed as having moved to Stirling to swim with Ben Higson and Bradley Hay after spending her senior career to date at the Bath Performance Centre. Also on the move is Lewis Burras who is now located at the Manchester Performance Centre with James Guy and Matt Richards to swim under Ryan Livingstone.
In the table below those retaining their spots are highlighted green, newcomers to the group are shown blue, while those who have left are shown red. Retirements are shown grey. The gold highlighted swimmers are those who moved up from the Podium Potential funding tier.
| 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Freya Anderson | Freya Anderson |
| Kieran Bird | |
| Lewis Burras | Lewis Burras |
| Freya Colbert | Freya Colbert |
| Kathleen Dawson | Kathleen Dawson |
| Tom Dean | Tom Dean |
| Angharad Evans | |
| Luke Greenbank | Luke Greenbank |
| James Guy | James Guy |
| Medi Harris | Medi Harris |
| Lucy Hope | Lucy Hope |
| Anna Hopkin | |
| Daniel Jervis | |
| Joe Litchfield | Joe Litchfield |
| Max Litchfield | |
| Jack McMillan | |
| Oliver Morgan | Oliver Morgan |
| Honey Osrin | |
| Hector Pardoe | |
| Adam Peaty | |
| Jacob Peters | Jacob Peters |
| Benjamin Proud | Ben Proud |
| Matt Richards | Matthew Richards |
| Duncan Scott | Duncan Scott |
| Katie Shanahan | Katie Shanahan |
| Laura Stephens | Laura Stephens |
| Jacob Whittle | Jacob Whittle |
| James Wilby | |
| Brodie Williams | |
| Abbie Wood | Abbie Wood |
Podium Potential
The potential group always has more flux and this year is not really any different especially as the roster has grown by two from 2024. McMillan and Pardoe have moved up a tier from last year’s crop, while Jono Adam’s move to Arizona State University is perhaps a factor in him being omitted.
Otherwise there are 8 further omissions and 13 new names on the list. Amongst the new faces are breaststroke tyros Max Morgan and Filip Nowacki and Paris Olympian Jonathan Marshall. Marshall joins 2024 teammates Alex Cohoon, Keanna MacInnes and Eva Okaro who were all retained on this tier.
In the table below those retaining their spots are highlighted green, newcomers to the group are shown blue, while those who have left are shown orange. The gold highlighted swimmers are those who moved up to the Podium funding tier.
| 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| David Annis | |
| Jonathon Adam | |
| Amelie Blocksidge | Amelie Blocksidge |
| Cameron Brooker | Cameron Brooker |
| Charlie Brown | |
| Skye Carter | Skye Carter |
| Alexander Cohoon | Alex Cohoon |
| Phoebe Cooper | Phoebe Cooper |
| Lauren Cox | Lauren Cox |
| Evelyn Davis | |
| Evie Dilley | Evie Dilley |
| Dean Fearn | |
| Joshua Gammon | |
| Lucy Grieve | Lucy Grieve |
| Kara Hanlon | |
| Robbie Hemmings | |
| Luke Hornsey | |
| Charlie Hutchison | |
| Evan Jones | Evan Jones |
| Blythe Kinsman | Blythe Kinsman |
| Keanna MacInnes | Keanna MacInnes |
| Edward Marcal Whittles | |
| Jonathon Marshall | |
| Jack McMillan | |
| Tyler Melbourne-Smith | Tyler Melbourne-Smith |
| Holly McGill | |
| Edward Mildred | Edward Mildred |
| Jacob Mills | |
| Max Morgan | |
| Filip Nowacki | |
| Eva Okaro | Eva Okaro |
| Emily Richards | Emily Richards |
| Alexander Painter | |
| Hector Pardoe | |
| Sienna Robinson | |
| Reuben Rowbotham-Keating | Reuben Rowbotham-Keating |
| Leah Schlosshan | Leah Schlosshan |
| Gabriel Shepherd | |
| Jack Skerry | |
| George Smith | George Smith |
| Theodora Taylor | |
| Matthew Ward | Matthew Ward |
| Elliot Woodburn |
At the start of a new Olympic cycle we might have expected more change, but apart from the increase in the total number of funded swimmers there was plenty that remained the same as it was in 2024.
Banner Image: Mike Lewis/ISL