Adam Peaty, Alice Dearing and Siobhan O’Connor are among 85 swimmers to have been named in the England Swimming Team ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The 85 include members of the Swim England National Performance Squad as well as English swimmers on British Swimming’s and British Para-swimming’s World Class programme.
Athletes who have won medals at Olympic and world level – including Peaty, Luke Greenbank, O’Connor and James Guy – are joined by those who have shown fine potential including Abbie Wood, Kayla van der Merwe and Jacob Whittle, who became the fastest 14-year-old in history over 100 free at the European juniors in Kazan, Russia, in 2019.
Aimee Willmott: Photo Courtesy: Swim England
Also selected is Aimee Willmott, the current 400IM champion who was appointed as an athlete representative on the board of Commonwealth Games England on a four-year term in April 2020.
Willmott will be 29 come Birmingham and at the twilight of a fine career which has encompassed two Olympics – reaching the final at Rio 2016 – World Championships with two European medals and three over three Commonwealths so far.
This despite having no funding after being cut from the 2018-19 World Class Performance Programme.
Fellow IM specialist Wood is also without funds.
Alice Tai, who won seven gold medals at the 2019 World Para-Swimming Championships in London, and Maisie Summers-Newton, the European SM6 200IM champion and world-record holder, are among the para-swimmers on the squad.
Grant Robins, Swim England head of talent – swimming and also the team leader for the swimming team at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, said:
“We’d like to offer our congratulations to everyone who has been named in the first England Swimming Team – we hope it will lead to a real team unity that will deliver the best games ever.
“Obviously there is still some time until the Commonwealth Games and there will be a selection policy that gives a period for performances once we are back in the pool for swimmers to demonstrate their potential.”
All the athletes on the World Class Programme will still be managed by British Swimming but, in the run-up to the Games, will be involved in England camps and competitions.
The swimmers chosen for the National Performance Squad will also attend a number of other Swim England-run camps.
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