A strong group of elite open water junior athletes has been selected to compete for the British Gas GBR Open Water Swimming team at the European Junior Open Water Swimming Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.
The athletes were selected following performances at the British Gas Swimming Championships in April and the Great North Swim in Lake Windermere in June.
As part of preparations for the meet, which takes place from 18-20 July, the team will travel to Hamburg to compete in theGerman National Open Water Swimming Championships on 5 July.
Amongst those included in the team is Alice Dearing who will be defending her 5km European Junior title in Zagreb. The Royal Wolverhampton swimmer has been on good form this year posting the fastest junior swims at the Great North Swimand two BestFest meets in Mallorca, as well as finishing 21st in the Argentina leg of the FINA 10km World Cup.
Joining Dearing in her second European Junior Open Water Championships will be Philippa Shuttleworth. The Hatfield swimmer finished 15th overall in the 5km race in Turkey and was the second placed junior athlete in the Great North Swim, finishing sixth overall.
Open Water Swimming Lead Bernie Dietzig, said: “We have already seen some strong junior performances this year at the two selection meets and our recent training camp in Mallorca and we are confident that this will continue.
“As well as experienced open water swimmers the team includes some athletes that are new to the sport. This is really exciting and we are confident that we have a good team that will be competitive at the European Championships.”
British Gas GBR Open Water Swimming Team selected for European Junior Championships:
- Alice Dearing (Royal Wolverhampton)
- Sophie Evans (Swansea)
- Holly Hibbott (Southport)*
- Ashley Hogg (Winsford)
- Thomas Millburn (Cockermouth)
- Archie Mitchell (City of Sheffield)
- Thomas Nelson (Wirral Metro)
- Tobias Robinson (Royal Wolverhampton)
- Harriet Rothwell (Ellsemere Titans)
- Philippa Shuttleworth (Hatfield)
* not attending German National Open Water Swimming Championships