LONDON, England, September 30. JON Rudd has been named the Brtish Coach of the Year for the second consecutive time.
The British Swimming Coaches’ Association have given Rudd this honor after another successful year in guiding his star athlete Ruta Meilutyte to international success. Though Meilutyte lives and trains in Plymouth, England, she is of Lithuanian heritage and represents Lithuania when she races outside of England.
Well done Jon Rudd becoming @BSCALtd Coach of the Year for 2nd time (with Asst Coach Lindsay Dunn) @britishswimming pic.twitter.com/tvjX6AzW9r— BSCA Ltd (@BSCALtd) September 29, 2013
Meilutyte won the 100 breaststroke at this summer’s world championships and set the world record in the semifinals of that event in Barcelona with a 1:04.35. She also set the 50 breaststroke world record in semifinals with a 29.48 before losing gold in the final to Russia’s Yulia Efimova.
Unlike the American Swim Coaches Association, the BSCA gives credit to British coaches for the success of their international swimmers, though there are very few coaches in Great Britain with foreign swimmers who are accomplished on the world stage. In addition to Meilutyte, Rudd has a strong group of young swimmers in his care at Plymouth, including national record holder Benjamin Proud, who was a part of Team GB’s world championship roster.
The award caps off a great month for Rudd. He was also picked as the head coach for England’s swim team at next year’s Commonwealth Games.
Jol Finck of Millfield Swimming was named the BSCA Youth Coach of the Year.
Steve Buckley, the founder of the Pullbuoy blog, caught up with Rudd and Finck at the BSCA convention last week. Click here to listen to Buckley’s podcast interview