In just a few weeks GB’s best swimmers will be heading back to the London Aquatic Centre for the British Swimming Championships which bring with them the opportunity to qualify for the world championship team that will head to Singapore in the summer.

As usual, the team will be picked based on the criteria in a selection policy that governs how up to 30 swimmers will be rated and given their tickets to the far east for July.

This policy marks the first that has been generated under the leadership of head coach Steve Tigg, so does it differ from those we saw under his predecessor Bill Furniss? Let’s dive into the detail and see how the team will take shape.

Preselection

One immediate difference is the return of preselection. These have been used over the past few years, but generally where a congested calendar or other pandemic variables have meant full trials meets haven’t been possible. Results from Paris last year hence are considered with every individual medallist guaranteed their spots. This means that the following four swimmers are already inked in for a reprise of their Olympic events:

• Adam Peaty – 100m Breaststroke
• Duncan Scott – 200m IM
• Matt Richards – 200m Freestyle
• Ben Proud – 50m Freestyle

Of course we don’t know what Adam Peaty’s racing schedule will look like this year, or if he intends to race at all in 2025, and he is not entered for London. One assumes he would need to demonstrate his fitness to be able to take up this spot, but the others have all been in action already this year so will look forward, perhaps, to a lower stress level in London, although Scott and Richards in particular will have eyes on other events.

There is also a preselection made for the victorious 4×200 freestyle relay team, with the quartet from the final guarantee their spots on the relay squad, but not necessarily for the final. That adds:

• Tom Dean – 4x200m freestyle relay
• James Guy – 4x200m freestyle relay

Guy has shown decent form so far in 2025, while Dean is returning from what he describes as the longest break from the pool he’s had since he started training, so it remains to be seen what shape he’ll be in at Trials. This preselection gives him a bit longer to make it back to top shape, although he’s only swimming the 100 free in London so may yet need to rely on selectorial discretion for any vacant spots that remain once the team is finalised if he wants an individual swim. Guy will no doubt fancy the second individual spot in the 200 free, while he also takes on the 200 fly and returns to the 400 free.

To Get on the Plane Via Trials: Win and do the Time!

There’s no real change from the tried and tested formula here, with winners in each event selected if they make the qualifying times as shown below. Relays as normal will be ranked against the standards taking the top 4 finishers.

Event	Women	Men	Mixed
50 Freestyle	00:24.61	00:21.88
100 Freestyle	00:53.55	00:48.06
200 Freestyle	01:56.65	01:45.96
400 Freestyle	04:04.98	03:45.43
800 Freestyle	08:25.84	07:47.80
1500 Freestyle	16:02.39	14:54.29
100 Backstroke	00:59.46	00:53.20
200 Backstroke	02:08.68	01:57.28
100 Breaststroke	01:06.31	00:59.65
200 Breaststroke	02:23.04	02:09.55
100 Butterfly	00:57.20	00:51.35
200 Butterfly	02:07.96	01:54.97
200 IM	02:10.62	01:57.18
400 IM	04:37.84	04:11.90
4 x 100 Freestyle	03:36.40	03:13.04
4 x 200 Freestyle	07:51.89	07:06.34
4 x 100 Medley	03:56.89	03:33.15	03:44.10

Following on from the approach in last year’s policy these are the only times. There are no consideration times or other standards, so if you want to make the team, you need to get under the times – finish first and you’re on the team. Finish second and you will be thrown in a pot with any other second placed finishers who make the time and some or all of that group will get picked. The policy doesn’t say how those calls will be made if the total team size is exceeded, but it seem logical that ranking results by percentage under the QT will be at least a factor.

But will we get into a place where too may swimmers are in the frame and not all runners up with QTs get picked? Well the times are almost a repeat of those used for Paris – 7 individual events are faster by a maximum of 0.48s while 4 are slower by a maximum of 0.6s. The relay times are all unchanged except the men’s 4×200 which is something of a red herring anyway given the preselection, but might be a means of sorting out whether additional swimmers get added.

They are though much slower than the equivalent automatic selection times from the last worlds in 2023, by several seconds in the longer events, probably reflecting the fact that it’s just a single standard. The table below shows the ups and downs when compared to the last two years.

Women		Event	Men
2024	2023		2024	2023
		50 Freestyle
		100 Freestyle
		200 Freestyle
		400 Freestyle
		800 Freestyle
		1500 Freestyle
		100 Backstroke
		200 Backstroke
		100 Breaststroke
		200 Breaststroke
		100 Butterfly
		200 Butterfly
		200 Individual Medley
		400 Individual Medley
		4 x 100 Freestyle
		4 x 200 Freestyle
		4 x 100 Medley
		Mixed 4×100 Medley
	QT is faster in 2025
	QT is the same in 2025
	QT is slower in 2025

So that being the case we might expect a similarly sized shoal to last year’s Olympic trials where 23 swimmers made the grade, including relays, so it’s a good chance that making the time and finishing top 2 will secure a place for Singapore.

That Old Devil Called Discretion

As usual if there are any spots left, then the selectors, in this case Head Coach Tigg in consultation with NPD Chris Spice, can add swimmers as they see fit up to that 30 limit.

So that’s the nuts and bolts of selection for the swing out to Singapore. In some ways the relatively modest times will make for an exciting meet with the results in most events the key thing. Let’s, therefore, get ready for some racing!

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