A 35-strong British Swimming team is all set to bring the curtain down on a memorable 2023 when they dive into six days of action at the European Short Course Championships in Bucharest, Romania, starting tomorrow (Tuesday 5th December) - with Olympic year now just around the corner.
Freya Colbert, Katie Shanahan and Abbie Wood will get the British contingent underway in the meet-opening Women's 400m Individual Medley heats at around 7.30am GMT at the Olympic Complex Otopeni, kickstarting a packed schedule of short-course (25m) racing that will serve as both a key competition opportunity and a good insight for the swimmers into how their performances reflect the hard training hours that have gone in so far this cycle.
With Britain involved at a European Short Course Championships for the first time since the 2019 event on home soil in Glasgow, there will be eye-catching moments across every single session - with finals getting underway from 4pm GMT each day.
Supporters can watch every single swim live through the Eurovision Sport platform, with free-to-air live coverage and on-demand video (registration required).
Double 2023 world champion Matt Richards is set to compete across all three freestyle events of the Men's 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle at the end of a stunning year, while fellow Men's 4x200m Freestyle world gold medallist Duncan Scott is doing the individual medley triple of Men's 100m, 200m and 400m Individual Medley, with two-time Olympic champion Tom Dean entered into no fewer than five individual events.
In 2019, Freya Anderson announced herself on the world stage by claiming two European Short Course titles. She will be going in the Women's 100m and 200m Freestyle events that brought those titles, as well as the 400m version. The aforementioned Abbie Wood has one of the most varied programmes of the week, racing in the Women's 400m Freestyle, 200m Breaststroke and both the 200m and 400m Individual Medley contests.
This European Aquatics event will also provide several senior GB debuts for those involved, as Leah Schlosshan, Archie Goodburn, Evan Jones and Alex Cohoon look to gain some priceless arena experience after impressive summers across European Under-23 and European Junior competitions.
Heading out to Romania as an established figurehead of British Swimming teams is James Guy, who is looking forward to getting some high-class racing under the belt as he builds towards the goal of a third Olympic Games next summer.
"The Europeans is a stepping stone for the year, you get to see where you're at. It's nice to know that, if I'm near personal best times, I'm in a good spot!" said Guy, who won two medals at Glasgow 2019.
"It's always a fun meet, it's a big British team and it's nice because it's one of the last times we'll get together as a team before the Olympic Games, competing together as GB. One of the main things is being comfortable with each other. I want to go there and swim as fast as I can and hit personal best times, but I'm also always looking forward, and at the back of my mind is Olympic trials as the next main focus."
For more details on the full British Swimming team competing at the 2023 European Short Course Swimming Championships, visit our team announcement from last month.
There are more details on the best ways to watch and engage with the action from Otopeni below...