Swimmers set for World Championships challenge

13 Oct 2016

Britain’s swimmers will look to bring an impressive year to a close when they compete for the right to be crowned World Champion (25m).

A Team of 16, including Rio Olympic medallists Stephen Milne and Dan Wallace, will compete at the FINA World Championships (25m) in Windsor, Canada in December.

The action gets underway at the WFCU Centre from 6 December and for six days the swimming world will go head-to-head in the faster waters of the 25m pool.

The World Championships provides athletes with one of their first international race opportunities as the Tokyo 2020 cycle begins.

British Swimming Head Coach Bill Furniss has challenged them to use the event to practice vital race skills ahead of the new quadrennial.

“The team is a mixture of some of our established Olympians and younger swimmers who will benefit from exposure to the world stage as they prepare for the next Olympic cycle,” Furniss said.

“The meet provides a good opportunity early in the cycle to build positive team culture and behaviours and work on short course skills. 

Olympic medallists Stephen Milne is returning to international action as his 2016 draws to a close but he is hoping to start his new season with some strong performances.  

"2016 has been a very exciting year and the results reflect the strength of everyone's commitment to the team,” Milne said. “Having the chance to be part of that and winning an Olympic medal was a dream come true for me. Rio was a fantastic experience and we will all be looking to use that to move things forward as we plan towards 2020

“I’m happy to be back on the team and looking forward to getting back to racing. This will be my first major international 25m championships and it will be good to test my skills in that arena. We have another strong team heading to Canada and it will be an exciting way to end the year.”

The British Swimming team comprises:

Adam Barratt - Loughborough University 

Charlie Boldison - University of Stirling

Max Litchfield - City of Sheffield

Stephen Milne - Perth City

Ross Murdoch - University of Stirling

Mark Szaranek - Edinburgh University 

Dan Wallace - University of Stirling

Andrew Willis - National Centre, Bath

Georgia Coates - City of Leeds

Georgia Davies - National Centre, Loughborough

Kathleen Dawson - University of Stirling

Hannah Miley - Garioch

Molly Renshaw - National Centre, Loughborough

Laura Stephens - Plymouth Leander

Chloe Tutton - City of Cardiff

Abbie Wood - National Centre, Loughborough