British team aim to collect ‘valuable insight’ at European championships

A 35-strong British Swimming team have a ‘great opportunity’ to collect ‘valuable insight’ ahead of an Olympic year as they head to Romania next month for the European Short Course Championships.

The final international of 2023 will see all eight British medallists from this year’s World Aquatics Championship in Japan take part in the competition at the Aquatics Complex of Otopeni, which is just outside Bucharest, from Tuesday 5 to Saturday 10 December.

Four swimmers are included in a senior squad for the first time – Loughborough University’s Alex Cohoon and City of Leeds’ Leah Schlosshan plus Scottish duo Archie Goodburn and Evan Jones.

The British team are competing in the European Short Course Championships for the first time since 2019, when the event was staged in Glasgow – although they did take part in the 2022 World Short Course Championships in Melbourne.

Tom Dean is the only athlete in the squad to have won medals at Glasgow, Melbourne and Fukuoka – and he will be alongside fellow world medallists Joe Litchfield, Ben Proud, Anna Hopkin, Freya Anderson, Lucy Hope, Lauren Cox and Jacob Whittle.

Continue to build morale

Bill Furniss, British Swimming’s head coach, explained the importance of the event for those taking part. 

He said: “The European Short Course Championships are a great opportunity for us to assess where the athletes are at come the end of the first training block of Olympic year.

“The short-course aspect of the competition will allow us to collect valuable insight into our athletes’ performances and help them focus on developing their starts, turns, and finishing skills. 

“The unique relay opportunities presented to us will also be crucial as we look to build on our ability in this area.

“It will also be a great opportunity to continue building team morale as we build towards the Olympic Games, with the team list combining our more experienced swimmers with some new faces to the senior team.”

Athletes were selected based on their performances at international swim meets between 1 May 2023 and 30 August 2023, with a number of those competing eyeing valuable competition time as they build towards the push for Paris in 2024.