Olympic and World Champion Adam Peaty has been named British Swimming Athlete of the Year 2017 at the prestigious British Swimming Awards hosted at Lancashire County Cricket ground in Manchester.
Tonight’s award sees back-to-back nod’s for Peaty after he collected the Overall Athlete of the Year award at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London after a successful 2016 season of swimming.
Peaty has both elevated and dominated the world of men’s breaststroke sprinting since breaking onto the global swimming stage in 2014 and this year has been no different breaking even more of his own records on the way to continued podium-topping success.
The National Centre Loughborough athlete collected Great Britain’s first pool medal of the FINA World Championships in Budapest earlier this year, with gold in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke.
Peaty also defended his 50m Breaststroke World title in the Hungarian capital breaking the world record twice on his way to the gold medal and made up one fourth of the British quartet that claimed silver in the Men’s 4x100m Medley relay setting a new British record in the process.
Adam recently collected his MBE for services to swimming and sport after being recognised in the Queen’s 2017 New Year’s Honours list following his record-breaking in achievements in Rio last year.
“I’m so proud to receive this award,” Peaty said. “To have been able to
defend both of my individual world titles in Budapest this summer has been a
real career highlight and something that many athletes don’t often get to
achieve.
- Adam Peaty - British Swimming Athlete of the Year“I have to thank the brilliant team I have around me and the great setup I have in Loughborough, especially my coach Mel [Marshall], and it’s awesome to see her also win an award tonight.
“I also want to thank British Swimming for honouring me in this way. The annual British Swimming Awards are the best way of recognising athletes and coaches across all of the sports.
“I am already looking ahead to the next few seasons, Tokyo 2020 is now firmly in my sights. It’s great to get the 2017-2018 season underway, I’m off on a warm weather camp to South Africa next week and then off to Copenhagen for the European Short Course Champs in December.
“Next year is going to be a busy one, where I’ll be looking to defend my Commonwealth titles on the Gold Coast and European titles up in Glasgow.”
British Swimming Chairman Maurice Watkins CBE commented: “My congratulations go to Adam Peaty for winning the British Swimming Athlete of the Year Award. He has had a fantastic year defending his own World titles, repeatedly lowering his own records and continuing to reaffirm his position as one of the swimming greats.- Maurice Watkins - British Swimming Chairman“The British Swimming Awards are a fantastic way of acknowledging and honouring so many of our athletes and coaches from across the aquatic disciplines for their hard work and dedication to the sports over the last 12 months.”
Following the announcement of Adam Peaty’s selection as British Swimming Athlete of the Year, Chief Executive Jack Buckner said, “I would like to personally congratulate Adam for another year of truly outstanding sport that has seen him continue to raise the bar of swimming in the UK and globally.
“He is an athlete that continues to strive be the greatest every day and that is evident through his world record breaking and gold medal winning season.
“As an organisation, it is wonderful that we are all able to come together to celebrate the achievements of all our athletes and staff across the aquatic disciplines. 2018 is set to deliver another busy sporting calendar for our sports and I look forward to continued success for British Swimming and all of our athletes.”
The British Swimming Awards also recognised by discipline the Athlete, Coach and Emerging Athlete of the Year celebrating the fantastic achievements throughout the sports for their success in 2017.
Full list of winners:
BRITISH SWIMMING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Adam Peaty
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Swimming: Adam Peaty
Para-Swimming: Andrew Mullen
Diving: Tom Daley
EMERGING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Swimming: Emily Large
Para-Swimming: Maisie Summers-Newton
Diving: Phoebe Banks and Ruby Bower
Synchro: Mimi Gray
Water Polo (Female): Sophie Jackson
Water Polo (Male): Connor Carpenter
COACH OF THE YEAR
Swimming: Melanie Marshall
Para-Swimming: Alex Pinniger
Diving: Jane Figueiredo