GBR swimmers set to face the rest of the world
British swimmers will battle for the chance to add World Championship honours to Commonwealth and European glories when they face the rest of the world in Qatar this week.
A British Gas GBR Swimming Team of 11, boasting 10 Commonwealth and six European titles between them, will compete at the FINA World Championships (25m) in Doha.
Britain’s team features the likes of Commonwealth and European Champions Jazz Carlin, Fran Halsall and Adam Peaty as well as defending champion Hannah Miley.
British Swimming Head Coach Bill Furniss will lead the team and has challenged them to use the event to hone their skills ahead of next year’s long course (50m) season which culminates in the World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
“We’ve had a good year with some strong performances and I’m looking forward to finishing it off at these short course World Championships,” said Furniss.
“The team’s main focus will be to practice the processes we’ve targeted ahead of next year. As we continue to improve as a nation this has to be our motivation rather than the outcome.
“It isn’t a benchmark event for us but I think any opportunity to race against the best in the world shouldn’t be wasted. We will use it as a stepping stone to next year’s long course World Championships and will specifically look at our starts, turns and finishes to see where improvements can be made.
“All athletes will be in different stages of preparation. There will also be a number of short course specialist swimmers while others, such as the British contingent, will go into the event off the back of a hard block of training and preparation for next year.”
The action gets underway at the Hamad Aquatic Centre from 3rd December and for five days the swimming world will go head-to-head in the 25m pool.
The British Gas GBR Swimming team comprises:
Adam Barrett - British Gas GBR National Centre, Loughborough
James Guy - Millfield
Adam Peaty – City of Derby
Ben Proud – Plymouth Leander
Chris Walker-Hebborn - British Gas GBR National Centre, Bath
Jazz Carlin – Swansea Performance Centre
Georgia Davies - British Gas GBR National Centre, Loughborough
Fran Halsall - British Gas GBR National Centre, Loughborough
Hannah Miley – Garioch
Siobhan Marie O’Connor - British Gas GBR National Centre, Bath
Sophie Taylor – City of Leeds
