British Swimming Appoints Alan Lynn as Head of Performance Development
British Swimming on Wednesday appointed Alan Lynn as the program’s new Head of Performance Development.
Lynn has served as the national coach of Scotland’s swim team since 2004. In that capacity, he has helped mentor a stable of British stars, including Duncan Scott, Kathleen Dawson, Toni Shaw and Ross Murdoch, to Olympic and Paralympic success. Lynn was Team Scotland’s Aquatics Team Leader for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He played a key role in helping Scotland navigate the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, from the national level to the underlying club structure.
“I am delighted to take up this post and I’m very excited to get started,” Lynn said in a British Swimming statement. “The challenge of working in performance development across the three disciplines is inspiring, and I look forward to working with partners across England, Wales and Scotland to progress our ambitions.
“The next few years are incredibly busy with international competition opportunities around the world for our developing aquatics athletes. This year in particular will see junior Championships at world and European level for many of our 2024 Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls. I’d like to thank stakeholders across Scottish Swimming – swimmers, coaches, clubs and partners for their support and commitment in the past seven years. It has been a very successful period for aquatics in Scotland, and I’m grateful to have been a part of the journey.”
In his new role, Lynn will lead strategic development and implementation of British Swimming’s Performance Pathways, for Olympic and Paralympic swimmers and Olympic divers. His responsibility will be to “ensure the effective transition” of junior talent to the senior level, overseeing the Talent Programmes across the three home nations.
Lynn is part of a general reshuffling of British Swimming’s hierarchy, announced last December, after a wildly successful Tokyo Olympic Games. He will work with Chris Spice, who in December was elevated to Performance Director of the new World Class Leadership Team.
“This is an incredibly important position within the new structure at British Swimming, providing strategic leadership for our discipline pathways,” British Swimming Associate Performance Director Tim Jones said. “We are delighted to make such a strong appointment in bringing Alan into the organisation. His wealth of knowledge and experience of the aquatics world will be a fantastic asset in helping us to continually improve.”