With competition in Fukuoka beginning in a little over a week, the preliminary entries for the swimming events have been confirmed, giving us a first look at what the British team will be taking part in when things kick off.
The first impression is how small, generally, the individual programmes are; only Katie Shanahan with three swims is taking on more than 2 races, and there have been very few additional swims offered to those selected. One notable, but unsurprising, exception to that is Matt Richards, who gets the 100m freestyle swim vacated by Duncan Scott as had been widely expected.
The general curtailment of entries implies just how much emphasis the British Swimming hierarchy are placing on relays, with Olympic qualification up for grabs and several medal chances in play. We had already seen that in the original team selection, and Freya Anderson was open about the importance of relays when confirming she would drop the individual 100 freestyle, while Tom Dean has spoken many times about the difficulties of taking on a heavy programme once relays are added to his two individual swims.
Beyond that there were a couple of surprises, notably the absence of Abbie Wood from the 200IM. She will swim the individual 200 freestyle, but it’s not clear why the medley has been put to one side although it does potentially boost the ladies’ freestyle relays. On the men’s side the big story was the fact that James Wilby is swimming only the 100m breaststroke and note the 200 in which he won a memorable European title last year. His absence opens the door for Greg Butler to get an individual swim in the longer event, something that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise, but also suggests Wilby will be deployed in both the heats and final of the mixed and men’s medley relays.
British Entries for Fukuoka
- Freya Anderson – 200 freestyle
- Cameron Brooker – 100 backstroke
- Lewis Burras – 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle
- Greg Butler – 200m breaststroke
- Freya Colbert – 400 freestyle, 400 IM
- Lauren Cox – 50 backstroke, 100 backstroke
- Tom Dean – 200 freestyle, 200 IM
- James Guy – 100 butterfly
- Kara Hanlon – 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke
- Medi Harris – 100m backstroke
- Lucy Hope – Relay only
- Anna Hopkin – 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle
- Daniel Jervis – 800 freestyle, 1500 freestyle
- Emily Large – 200 butterfly
- Joe Litchfield – Relay only
- Keanna MacInnes – 100 butterfly
- Jack McMillan – Relay only
- Oliver Morgan – 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke
- Jacob Peters – 50 butterfly, 100 butterfly
- Ben Proud – 50 butterfly, 50 freestyle
- Matt Richards – 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle
- Duncan Scott – 200 IM
- Katie Shanahan – 200 backstroke, 200 IM, 400IM
- Laura Stephens – 200 butterfly
- Luke Turley – 400 freestyle, 800 freestyle
- Jacob Whittle – Relay only
- James Wilby – 100 breaststroke
- Brodie Williams – 200 backstroke
- Abbie Wood – 200 freestyle
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