Freya Anderson Seeks To Continue Dave McNulty’s Legacy As He Returns To Scene Of Coaching Bow
Freya Anderson was eight when Jo Jackson set the British 200 free record of 1:55.54 that still stands today.
It was Jackson’s first journey inside 1:56, back at the 2009 World Championships, where she also set the current 400 standard of 4:00.60 before leaving Rome with two silvers and one bronze medal and just missing out in the 200 by one place.
Fast-forward 14 years and Anderson too has broken through the 1:56 barrier for the first time when she clocked 1:55.89 at the British trials in April.
The 22-year-old became the third British woman to go 1:55 after Jackson and Siobhan O’Connor who went 1:55.82 en-route to silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
And all of them coached by David McNulty.
Anderson told Swimming World:
“Dave has so many stories about Joanne so I’ve heard loads about how she trained and how it was at worlds and stuff so I am kind of clued up on it a bit.
“Siobhan was honestly ace, such a talented swimmer.
“She was a real, real talent and one of the stars of British Swimming
“With Jo’s record standing for so long it’s nuts – I don’t know. It’s nice to be able to get into the 1:55s and it’s crazy that Dave has coached all three of us, it’s quite cool.”
David McNulty: Photo Courtesy: Team GB
McNulty made his GB coaching bow at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka and returns to Japan 22 years later.
Olympic 200 free champion Tom Dean and 4×2 gold medallist James Guy as well as Anderson are among those on the team that he guides on a daily basis at Bath National Centre.
Jackson and O’Connor also made the Olympic podium as did Jazz Carlin, Chris Walker-Hebborn and Michael Jamieson among McNulty’s other charges.
Former swimmers have spoken in glowing terms about McNulty but what is it that he demands?
Anderson said:
“In and out of the pool and especially out is to carry that professionalism that we do.
“He wants us to come on to deck with no moping or anything but that’s what we all expect of each other as well.
“So it’s been very good of him getting these expectations and putting them on to us but then we also hold each other to those standards.
“He has this thing – don’t bring it on deck – so if someone’s walking on poolside tired and dragging their feet or something, it’s like ‘ah, he’s bringing tiredness on deck’. We all have to pick them up and try and get everyone to be a bit more upbeat, he doesn’t like any negative talk or anything.
“He just expects professionalism from us all because that has come down through us really well because that is what we now expect from each other.”
Anderson Inspired By Mens’ Relay Success
Anderson will compete in the 200 free in Fukuoka having dropped the 100 because of a scheduling clash with the women’s 4×2.
The last time the British women won that event was also in Fukuoka back in 2001 when Nicola Jackson – sister of Joanne – led off the quartet followed by Janine Belton, Karen Legg and Karen Pickering to finish ahead of Germany and Japan.
Since then they’ve made the podium once when they finished third at the super-suited 2009 worlds where Jo Jackson was joined by Carlin, Caitlin McClatchey and Becky Adlington to set a European record of 7:45.51 that stands today.
Freya Anderson: Photo Courtesy: Morgan Harlow/British Swimming
Anderson is eyeing relay success in Fukuoka, inspired by the men’s exploits, two years after winning Olympic mixed medley gold in Tokyo having swum the prelims.
She told Swimming World recently about the inspiration that came from Duncan Scott’s shuddering 46.14 freestyle split – the second-fastest in history – as he anchored Britain’s men to medley relay gold at Gwangju 2019.
She added:
“The last time the 4×2 women’s won worlds was in 2001 so everyone’s really excited about what can we do and it’s 22 years later.
“It feels kind of special going into it and we’re just a tight-knit team of girls and we’ve all got each other’s backs. I know some girls are getting rid of individual swims for the relays.
“And I think that does also come from what we’ve seen the boys do and what we’ve been told we are capable of so yeah, I’m quite excited.
“We had a relay meeting when we were on camp in France: we’ve taken so much inspiration from the boys and how well their relays have gone and where they started from and where they’ve got it to.”
No British woman has stood on an individual global long-course podium since Carlin in the 800 at Rio 2016.
Anderson – who was fourth in the 200 free at the Budapest worlds last year – believes she’ll have to do a PB to reach the final and predicts a 1:53 to make the podium with Mollie O’Callaghan and Summer McIntosh having already entered the territory this year.
She said:
“When I came to Bath we got given these laminated sheets of paper that we keep in our kit bag of goal times and mine had always been 1:54.5.
“So anytime we’d do pace work in the sessions I’d be hitting the pace for a 1:54. So it kind of makes me slightly self-confident that I can do those times in training so that it will correlate to a race.
“Now that I’ve got into the 1:55s I really want to get it further down so that would be lovely to do.”