A total of 48 athletes have been selected to form part of the British Swimming World Class Programme (WCP) for the 2019/20 season, with four of them based within clubs in the North East.
The athletes are split across Podium and Podium Potential tiers and will receive programme opportunities and targeted financial assistance from UK Sport through the World Class Performance Programme’s Athlete Performance Award (APA).
City of Sheffield’s Charlie Brown and Cameron Brooks-Clarke, City of Leeds Ciara Schlosshan and Newcastle Swim Team’s Emily Large have all been selected onto the Podium Potential Programme.
As ever an extremely thorough selection process was implemented, analysing athletes’ past and current performances and a robust assessment of their ability to win medals at both this and future Olympiads.
Athletes selected on to the World Class programmes are also eligible to receive training camp and competition opportunities throughout the selected season, as well as access to world-class sports science and medicine services, and comprehensive support from British Swimming performance staff and national institute of sport programmes across the UK.
Of the 2019/2020 group, British Swimming National Performance Director, Chris Spice, said:
“The programme has enjoyed another strong year, culminating with our swimmers winning seven medals at the World Championships in Gwangju, three of which were gold. Our junior swimmers also continued to impress against the best in the world and a number of those involved in strong performances across the European and World Junior Championships have been rewarded with a place on the World Class programme for the next 12 months.
Today marks 304 days to go before we hear the starting gun in Tokyo, so the excitement is growing as we head into another Olympic season. The WCP is not an end in itself and we know we must improve from where we were at the World Championships in Gwangju if we want to meet all our targets for next year. For some of the younger athletes, they will be on a longer journey toward Paris and we look forward to working with them and developing them to be the best they can be over the coming years.”
Swimmers Nick Pyle (Newcastle Swim Team), David Cumberlidge (Tynedale) and Joe Litchfield (City of Sheffield) who are now based outside of the North East region were also selected for the Podium Potential Programme while Max Litchfield (City of Sheffield) has been selected for the Podium programme.
Many congratulations to all the swimmers, their clubs and coaches on their selections. A full list of swimmers selected can be found here.
