Two-time Tokyo medallist Luke Greenbank has been unveiled as the first athlete of the AP brand, founded by Adam Peaty and Ed Baxter.
AP has been delivering race clinics since 2019 and are now expanding with the goal of retaining young swimmers who are in danger of leaving the sport and helping bridge the gap between junior and senior competition by providing race opportunities.
Moreover the duo have named Greenbank as their first sponsored athlete which will give financial support to the Olympic 200 back bronze medallist.
So too will there be access to wider commercial opportunities for the Briton, who won Olympic medley relay silver in Tokyo alongside Peaty, James Guy and Duncan Scott.
Baxter and Greenbank made the announcement on the Propulsion Swimming podcast with the latter saying:
“It is absolutely incredible: just seeing how the brand has grown over the past two or three years is something I am really excited to be a part of and potentially grow that brand further.
“The brand’s motto ‘Better Than Yesterday’ definitely aligns with how I want to improve every day and that really resonates in the brand itself.”
The pair were teammates as youngsters at the Cockermouth club with Baxter now on poolside at Loughborough National Training Centre with Peaty and Greenbank among Mel Marshall’s training group.
He will play an integral role in the clinics that tour the country and will provide backstroke expertise, also drawing on his different experience to where he is as an athlete today.
Greenbank continued:
“I have got a very good relationship with Ed – we have known each other for a very long time – so it feels like a family really.
“The financial support I get is very important in terms of camps and helping my own training.
“The opportunity to give back for the next generation is also really important for me.”
Baxter, who was a Commonwealth Youth Games champion in his own racing days, highlighted key traits he and Peaty were looking for in an athlete.
Among them passion for the sport, a commitment to supporting the next generation and the embodiment of their motto ‘Better Than Yesterday’ – not necessarily a demand to be faster each day in the water but a desire to be the best you can be.
Baxter said:
“Since Luke was 12, 13, I’ve seen him push himself harder than anyone else can and from myself, Adam and Luke all training together for five, six years…..Luke really gets what we are about, he understands why we are so passionate about swimming and what we want to achieve.
“It was so natural for it to be Luke.”