BRITAIN UNVEILS STRONG EUROPEAN SQUAD
British Swimming has unveiled a squad of 46 athletes who
will go head-to-head with the rest of Europe at the European
Swimming Championships in Budapest this summer.
Commonwealth champions such as Caitlin McClatchey, Becky
Cooke, Chris Cooke, David Carry, Liam Tancock and Ross Davenport
will feature in the strongest team Britain has sent to a long
course (50m) European Championships in years.
For the vast majority of those selected it offers another
opportunity of a major international long course meet for
the year following a very successful Commonwealth Games where
swimmers from the home nations accrued a combined medal haul
of 36.
British Swimming National Performance Director Bill Sweetenham
is excited about the unique prospect of facing another international
challenge this season and the benefits he believes it will
bring.
"This is a great opportunity for our swimmers. To be
able to contest a European Championships and Commonwealth
Games in the same year is a real bonus," said Sweetenham.
"There is no doubt the European Championships will be
a much stronger and more challenging meet but it provides
us with a chance, once again, to develop both coaches and
swimmers in a competition environment."
British Swimming will be taking the largest team possible
to Budapest with an emphasis on strengthening the athlete/coach
relationship.
"We will be offering all coaches the opportunity to
attend Budapest to coach their own swimmer all the way through
the process. They will be in charge of their athlete's preparation
from the trials until the championships," explained Sweetenham.
"This usually doesn't happen because of restrictions
on numbers but due to the size of the team, and the allowance
of four entries per nation, per event, it enables us to select
a sizeable coaching group to work with the athletes."
Sweetenham sees the opportunity for nations to send a maximum
of four athletes per event as having a massive knock-on effect
in regard to the standard of the meet.
"These recent changes are going to make this particular
meet very tough. You're going to see swimmers from the same
country having to race each other hard in the morning heats
as only two are able to progress to the semi-final of an event,"
explained Sweetenham.
"This is going to push the standard on without a doubt
and increases the challenge both swimmers and coaches will
face.
"It will help us tremendously in our Olympic preparation.
We have to make sure we swim fast in the morning heats and
actually race each other, and Budapest will help us to work
towards this strategy."
Sweetenham is confident the team selected will be able to
continue the good work witnessed at the Commonwealth Games
last month.
"There is no doubt the team is a very good team. It's
a mixture of senior as well as younger, less experienced athletes
but they're all podium focussed."
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