Strong British team named for Glasgow 2015

“It’s so great to be part of a world class team and competing at my fourth World Championships will be a real honour."

An 18-strong British contingent has been named to face the rest of the world at their home IPC Swimming World Championships from 13-19 July in Glasgow, Great Britain.

Four-time Paralympic Champion Ellie Simmonds will be returning to the Worlds level after securing her place on the team for her fourth World Championships.

Bethany Firth is set to make her international debut for Great Britain after breaking three world records on her way to qualifying for Glasgow 2015.

She dominated the 200m individual medley, 100m backstroke and 100m breaststroke during the recent four-day British Para-Swimming International Meet which concluded on Sunday (29 March).

The most experienced member of the team is Sascha Kindred who has competed at every IPC Swimming World Championships in his twenty year career.

Simmonds is excited to return to action in Glasgow and is relishing the chance to face the world just a year out from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

“I’m very excited to be named on the team for the World Championships in Glasgow,” Simmonds said. “It’s so great to be part of a world class team and competing at my fourth World Championships will be a real honour.

“The World Championships always has top class fields with top class athletes. I expect there will be some great racing and great rivalries.

“It will be tough for anyone to win medals with everyone in the world there. The USA are always strong and the Brazilians will be wanting to swim well ahead of their home Paralympic Games next year so there should be some great races.”

National Performance Director Chris Furber believes this team will have the potential to produce results under pressure in Glasgow.

“The team we have selected is strong and reflects the goal of the competition which is to win gold medals and qualifying slots for Rio.

“There were some really excellent performances last week in Glasgow and I know the athletes have gone back to their home programmes to continue to work hard as we move closer to the Worlds.

“The expectation is that the standard of para-swimming in the lead up to Rio is only going to improve exponentially and we have based our standards this year on this which is why we have a smaller team than previously in this cycle.

“Having a smaller team allows us to give focused and individually tailored support to swimmers who have demonstrated gold or multi-medal potential.”

Head Coach Rob Greenwood added: “As British Para-Swimming we are in a great place on the coaching front. It was fantastic to see so many of our top coaches at last week’s trials but it did make the process of coach selection a difficult one.

“The coaches selected offer a great variety of experiences, knowledge and personality all adding to the dynamic of the team. I'm sure the coaching team in Glasgow will help our athletes to deliver their peak performance."

Full British para-swimming team:

James Crisp

Jonathan Fox

Thomas Hamer

Oliver Hynd

Sascha Kindred

Andrew Mullen

Scott Quin

Jack Thomas

Jessica-Jane Applegate

Claire Cashmore

Bethany Firth

Charlotte Henshaw

Tully Kearney

Susannah Rodgers

Hannah Russell

Eleanor Simmonds

Stephanie Slater

Alice Tai

Coaches:

Rob Greenwood - British Para-Swimming Head Coach

Rob Aubry - British Para-Swimming National Coach

Steve Bayley - Loughborough University

Kris Gilchrist - Warrender Baths Club

Mark Rose - City of Manchester Aquatics

Graeme Smith - British Para-Swimming National Coach

Tickets for Glasgow 2015 are available via Ticketmaster.

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