British Swimming has named a team of 11 swimmers for this winter’s World Short Course Championships, slated to take place in Melbourne in December.
The squad is headlined by Ben Proud who will be defending the 50m freestyle title he won in Abu Dhabi last year and looking to continue a rich vein of success that has seen him take LC titles at world, commonwealth and European levels this summer.
Adam Peaty had already indicated via his social media he would be taking part and the meet will give a good barometer of his recovery from the broken foot that curtailed his long course season. Meanwhile Lewis Burras will make the relatively short trip from his training base in Western Australia, as he’d told us he hoped to do on the pullbuoy podcast.
The rest of the team is filled out with a number of swimmers with short course ISL experience from 2021. This group is led by London Roar’s Olympic Champion Tom Dean, with his London teammate Luke Greenbank, NY Breaker’s Abbie Wood, DC Trident’s Anna Hopkin and Imogen Clark of the LA Current all making the trip down under.
For Clark, who as a 50m specialist missed out on LC world championship selection this summer before winning a brace of medals at Commonwealth and European level, this is a real chance to make a point and perhaps influence selection thinking for next year’s LC world champs.
The team is rounded out by Welsh duo Dan Jervis, making a welcome return after Covid ruined his Commonwealth Games, and Medi Harris who aims to continue her impressive breakthrough season, while the inclusion of Bella Hindley suggests that there will be some women’s freestyle relay representation.
The meet takes place from 13th to 18th of December 2022.
GB Team for World Short Course Championships
- Lewis Burras, Winchester City
- Imogen Clark, Derventio Excel
- Tom Dean, Bath Performance Centre
- Luke Greenbank, Loughborough Performance Centre
- Medi Harris, Swim Wales High Performance Centre, Swansea
- Isabella Hindley, Brompton Swimming Club
- Anna Hopkin, Loughborough Performance Centre
- Daniel Jervis, Swim Wales High Performance Centre, Swansea
- Adam Peaty, Loughborough Performance Centre
- Ben Proud, Bath University
- Abbie Wood, Loughborough Performance Centre
Banner image: ISL/Mike Lewis