British Para-Swimming announce 39 athletes for 2023 World Class Programme

British Para-Swimming have confirmed the athletes who have been invited on to the World Class Programme for the upcoming 2023 season.

The selection comes after one of the busiest summers on record for the group – highlighted by a fourth-place medal table finish at the 2022 World Para-Swimming Championships in Madeira and multiple medals won at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

This season, Britain’s para-swimmers are back in the pool as they look to build towards the 2023 World Para-Swimming Championships in Manchester before the Paralympic Games of Paris 2024.

A whole host of talent across a variety of para-swimming classifications have been selected which includes nine new and returning faces as part of the Podium Potential programme, such as Alsager Swimming Club’s Poppy Maskill who is invited for the first time after a breakout season on the international stage.

Maskill had a breakout year where she claimed a world silver medal in the S14 100m Backstroke at the 2022 Madeira Para-Swimming World Championships.

Matthew Redfern also joins the Podium Potential programme after coming out of retirement to take bronze at the Madeira 2022 World Para-Swimming Championships in the Mixed 49pts 4x100m Freestyle relay.

The Podium programme is host to multiple world champions including Maisie Summers-Newton, Tully Kearney and Bethany Firth. Commonwealth champion Alice Tai is also on the Podium programme, alongside Tokyo 2020 medal winners Reece Dunn, Stephen Clegg and Scott Quin.

Both the Podium and Podium Potential programme tiers (as listed below) receive opportunities and targeted financial assistance from UK Sport through the World Class Performance Programme’s Athlete Performance Award (APA).

“A pivotal season”

Reflecting on the World Class Programme invitations, British Swimming’s Associate Performance Director Tim Jones said: “We are extremely pleased to be able to offer our support, in conjunction with UK Sport, to such a talented group of athletes.

“This is a pivotal season for our programme as we begin the final 24-month lead into the Paris Paralympics.

“It is an important training year where we need our athletes to invest in a sustained block of work, and we have the benefits of a home World Championships in Manchester as a focal competition at the end of the summer.

“We look forward to working with this group and their coaches to make the most of the year ahead.”

The athletes selected on to World Class programmes are able to benefit from competition and training camp opportunities throughout the season, in which they are selected, with access to world-class sports science and medicine services available, on top of comprehensive support from British Para-Swimming performance staff and national Institute of Sport programmes across the UK.