Ben Proud Swimmer

Ben Proud became the first person ever to win World, European and Commonwealth swimming titles in the same year - doing it in the space of two months, as 2022 provided him with his most successful year to date. 

All three events were won in fine style by Proud, with the athlete also taking gold in the 50m Butterfly at the Commonwealth Games with Team England.

Ben’s preparations for the busy 2022 summer continued as he won gold in the 50m Butterfly at the 2022 British Swimming Championships. Preceding the clear win for the Bath swimmer was a silver in the 50m Freestyle, narrowly missing another British title.

The Tokyo Olympics for Ben was a story of slender margins, with a place on the podium in the 50m Freestyle eluding him by just over a tenth of a second as he powered to fifth in the blue-riband splash and dash. 

Tokyo 2020 was his second Olympic Games after a fourth-placed finish in the Men's 50m Freestyle at Rio 2016 - and he showed his intentions in that event by claiming silver at the 2021 European Championships, less than one tenth off the gold. 

Proud reached the finals in each of his three events at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, finishing fifth in the 50m Freestyle and Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay, and seventh in the 50m Butterfly as he looked to defend his crown from two years previous.

The Plymouth Leander swimmer came back from the disappointment of disqualification in the Men's 50m Butterfly at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games to defend his Commonwealth title in the 50m Freestyle, having set a new British record in the qualifying rounds. He also came away with two silver medals from the Men's 4x100m Freestyle and 4x100m Medley Relays.

He claimed the first individual European gold of his career earlier in 2018 by triumphing in the 50m Freestyle, as well as upgrading a bronze in the 50m Butterfly from 2016 to a silver two years later. 

At the World Championships in Budapest in 2017, Proud clinched a stunning gold in the 50m Butterfly in a new British record time, making him the first British man to even feature on the World Championship podium in that event since 2001, when Mark Foster took bronze. He also claimed bronze in the 50m Freestyle, the first British man to claim a medal in that event for 14 years.

Proud's spot on the British team for those Worlds was secured after he lowered the British records in the 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly on his way to gold medals in both at the British Championships earlier in the year.  

The sprint swimmer made his Olympic Games debut at Rio 2016 in the 50m Freestyle, qualifying for the final and narrowly missing out on a medal by finishing fourth. 

Earlier that year, he secured 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly bronzes at the European Championships in London.

After taking two senior titles at the 2015 British Championships in those same events, Ben headed off to Kazan for his debut World Championship outing, where he made the finals for both events respectively.

In 2014, still only 19 years old, Proud won his first senior international medals, claiming the 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly double on his Commonwealth debut for England at Glasgow 2014, before adding 50m Butterfly bronze and Men's 4x100m Medley Relay gold for Great Britain at his maiden European Championships the following month.