BRITISH SWIMMING UNVEILS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SQUAD
British Swimming has unveiled the squad it will take to next
month's World Championships in Montreal and National Performance
Director Bill Sweetenham believes the 18-strong team is poised
to meet expectations following exceptional preparation.
"The World Championship team is a strong, focused group
which has addressed world class standards in making the squad
and I have high expectations for the team," said Sweetenham.
"Their preparation has been very good and I look forward
to swimming the World Championships with this group of very
determined, talented and well deserving individuals."
The squad, which achieved qualification with top 10 world
ranked times (2004) or better, comprises Olympians, those
who will be attending their first World Championships and
two World Champions who achieved gold two years ago in Barcelona.
James Gibson (Loughborough University) and Katie Sexton (Portsmouth
Northsea) have both made the grade and will be out to defend
their titles in the 50m Breaststroke and 200m Backstroke.
For Olympic medallist David Davies (City of Cardiff) Montreal
will be his second World Championships. He swam in Barcelona
in 2002 and finished fourth in the 1500m Freestyle in his
first major international meet.
The Welshman has undergone rigorous preparations for his
World Championship challenge and feels he's in the right shape
to take on the best distance swimmers in the world.
"I've been to Australia as part of my preparations
and spent the whole of May training at the British Swimming
offshore centre near Brisbane. We did some very good work
there and this has set me up well for the summer," said
Davies.
"With the work that I've done, there's no reason why
I can't give my best this summer. I swam at the weekend in
Swansea and it was a very satisfying performance. It shows
I'm in good shape ahead of next month.
"While in Australia I was swimming around 80,000metres
a week but it wasn't about the distance, it was about the
quality of the work I was doing. It's given me a great lift."
Davies has come a long way since Barcelona 2002 and the pinnacle
of his transition was a bronze medal at the Athens Olympics
last year.
"Things are definitely different for me now, especially
coming off the back of an Olympics. I'm growing in maturity
and experience all the time, and the World Championships will
offer a different challenge.
"Barcelona was my first major meet. I went in there
very green as I didn't know what to expect but finished fourth.
It was a real eye-opener for me and a completely different
meet from anything else I'd previously experienced.
"Every competition now is about knowing I've done all
the work I could have done and that I give it my everything.
It's an individual sport and in Montreal I'll concentrate
on my own performance and not what's going on around me."
The British Swimming Squad
Name. Club. Current Coach.
Daren Mew University of Bath Dave Lyles
David Davies City of Cardiff Dave Haller
James Gibson Loughborough University Ben Titley
Liam Tancock Loughborough University Ben Titley
James Goddard Stockport Metro Sean Kelly
Gregor Tait City of Cardiff Dave Haller
David Carry City of Aberdeen Ian Turner
Chris Cook City of Newcastle Ian Oliver
Name Club Current Coach
Kate Haywood Loughborough University Ben Titley
Caitlin McClatchey Loughborough University Ben Titley
Kirsty Balfour City of Edinburgh Frederic Vergouix
Rebecca Cooke City of Glasgow Stephen Hill
Melanie Marshall Loughborough University Ben Titley
Joanne Jackson Durham Aquatics Dave McNulty
Julia Beckett Loughborough University Ben Titley
Gemma Spofforth Portsmouth Northsea Graham Wardell
Rosalind Brett Loughborough University Ben Titley
Katy Sexton Portsmouth Northsea Graham Wardell
The 11th FINA World Championships will take
place in Montreal, Canada between 17th and 31st July 2005.
The championships incorporate swimming, diving, open water
swimming, synchronised swimming and water polo.
|