Learn more about the swimming nominees across the 'Athlete of the Year', 'Emerging Athlete of the Year' and 'Coach of the Year' categories at The Aquatics GB Awards 2025.
Swimming Athlete of the Year, sponsored by Speedo
2025 Shortlist: Freya Colbert, Men’s 4x200m Freestyle relay team (Matt Richards, James Guy, Jack McMillan and Duncan Scott, Tom Dean and Evan Jones) and Oliver Morgan
Freya Colbert
Aquatics GB Performance Centre Loughborough
The high point of Freya Colbert’s 2025 season saw her deliver a new British record in the Women’s 200m Freestyle world championship final this summer – eclipsing Joanne Jackson’s 16-year-old mark from Rome 2009 – only narrowly missing out on the podium in fourth position. With a medal of each colour won at Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in April ahead of her a fourth consecutive worlds appearance, Freya closed out her racing strongly in Singapore as a finalist in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley after helping the Women’s 4x200m Freestyle relay to a top-five spot.
Men’s 4x200m Freestyle relay team (Matt Richards, James Guy, Jack McMillan and Duncan Scott, Tom Dean and Evan Jones)
Aquatics GB Performance Centre Manchester, University of Stirling and Aquatics GB Performance Centre Bath
Another iconic race for the history books went down in the World Aquatics Championships Arena as Matt Richards, James Guy, Jack McMillan and Duncan Scott – swimmers representing all four corners of Great Britain – silenced any doubters by resuming Great Britain’s hold on the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle relay world title in Singapore. The finals quartet were supported by the important role Tom Dean and Evan Jones executed in the heats, with Jones making his maiden senior World Aquatics Championships appearance this summer after impressing selectors within an electric Men’s 200m Freestyle finale to the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships which saw Guy and Scott tie for first place in London.
Oliver Morgan
University of Birmingham
Oliver Morgan retained his clean sweep on Men’s Backstroke titles at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships for a third consecutive year in 2025 – lowering his Men’s 100m Backstroke record in the course of taking victory in London. The summer saw the University of Birmingham swimmer further strengthen his depth of experience on the world stage with a top-five finish in the Men’s 100m Backstroke before leading off a valiant effort from the Men’s 4x100m Medley relay in Singapore to rank sixth in the world.
Swimming Emerging Athlete of the Year, sponsored by Sport Passport
2025 Shortlist: Amalie Smith, Jacob Mills, Filip Nowacki and Dean Fearn
Amalie Smith
RTW Monson
Amelie caught the eye in claiming a pair of brilliant individual medley titles at July’s European Junior Swimming Championships, setting a new championship record of 4:37.02 over the 400m distance, while also anchoring the Great Britain Women’s 4x200m Freestyle quartet to bronze in Slovakia. This was followed up on the world junior stage with the RTW Monson swimmer scooping up a of silver in both the Women’s 400m Individual Medley and 200m Individual Medley either side of celebrating her 16th birthday in Romania.
Jacob Mills
Repton
The 17-year-old swimmer made his senior World Aquatics Championships debut in July, providing the lead out leg of the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle team in their British record swim to place fourth at Singapore 2025. After garnering that experience, Jacob headed to Romania for the world junior championships and swam to silver medals in the Men’s 50m Freestyle and Men’s 100m Freestyle silvers, in addition to key roles in Great Britain’s Mixed 4x100m Freestyle, Men’s 4x100m Medley silver and Mixed 4x100m Medley medal winning relays in Otopeni.
Filip Nowacki
Millfield
Filip enjoyed a golden summer of world and European Junior Championship action, as the Millfield swimmer delivered titles in both the Men’s 100m Breaststroke and Men’s 200m Breaststroke across both meets – lowering his 200m European junior record on multiple occasions. A sprint to silver in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke accompanied two further golds as part of the Men’s and Mixed 4x100m Medley triumphs at European juniors, before more medley relay silverware at the world juniors meet as British men’s and mixed teams won silver and bronze respectively.
Dean Fearn
Aberdeen Dolphins
Having sprinted to Men’s 50m Butterfly titles at both the world and European Junior Championships – while adding further individual silverware in the Men’s 100m Butterfly events – Dean was also involved as a crucial ingredient in Great Britain’s junior medley relay success this summer. Junior Men’s and Mixed 4x100m Medley relay golds at the European meet Slovakia preceded silver and bronze respectively on the junior world championship stage in Romania to cap his time as an Aberdeen Dolphins swimmer ahead joining the University of Stirling for the forthcoming season.
Swimming Coach of the Year, sponsored by Sport Passport
2025 Shortlist: Ben Higson, Ryan Livingstone and Dave Hemmings
Ben Higson
University of Stirling
Having returned to the University of Stirling to take up the role as the high-performance programme's Head Coach in October 2024, Ben Higson has overseen a season in which seven of his group featured at the Singapore 2025 World Aquatics Championships – where Duncan Scott and Jack McMillan supplied firepower to Great Britain’s victory in the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle, while Angharad Evans and Holly McGill made their senior Worlds debuts after impressing at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championship selection meet in London.
Ryan Livingstone
Aquatics GB Performance Centre Manchester
At the wheel of the Aquatics GB Performance Centre Manchester, Ryan Livingstone has continued to be a key asset to the senior Great Britain team coaching setup, guiding Leah Schlosshan, Ed Mildred and Evan Jones to their maiden senior worlds and Emily Richards to her first individual world championships final in 2025 – with Jones joining fellow Livingstone-coached swimmers, Matt Richards and James Guy, in the ensemble to take a stunning gold in the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle in Singapore.
Dave Hemmings
Aquatics GB Loughborough Performance Centre
Dave Hemmings has led the Aquatics GB Performance Centre Loughborough through another fruitful year, with six of his athletes taking on the world’s best in Singapore – while Alexander Cohoon and Honey Osrin picked up silverware at the European U23 Championships. Under Dave’s tutelage, Freya Colbert took down a 16-year-old British record mark in the Women’s 200m Freestyle showdown to finish just four tenth outside of the medal places at the World Aquatics Championships this summer.
To view the full information about nominees for the Aquatics GB Awards 2025 click here.