Aquatics GB welcomes confirmation from UK Sport of its funding allocation to help support our preparations towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games - with an uplift in funding for Olympic and Paralympic aquatic disciplines.
On Monday (16th December), UK Sport revealed its greatest investment to date with £330m in Government and National Lottery funding set to benefit more than 50 sports as they embark on the LA 2028 Games cycle.
For Aquatics GB, these new figures come on the back of some record-breaking Olympic performances in Paris, including a best-ever haul of five diving medals and a historic first artistic swimming silver, plus an Olympic relay title defence and five medals in the swimming pool - equating to an overall medal tally equalling Tokyo 2020’s total of 11.
Our Paralympic swimming team, meanwhile, secured the most gold medals this century - a total of 18 from 32 medals overall - to again rank as ParalympicsGB's best-performing sport after an incredible showing from a young team on the world's biggest stage, finishing second in the swimming medal table.
This investment across the World Class Programmes will help athletes and teams access key competition and training camp opportunities as they target major success at Olympic, Paralympic and World Championship level - with next summer's World Championships in Singapore for all disciplines moving into view.
Speaking on the UK Sport update, Aquatics GB CEO Drew Barrand said: "Paris 2024 provided some unforgettable moments for our Olympic and Paralympic teams - and as always in our high-performance environments, our athletes, coaches and staff are now focused on building towards more incredible moments in the water over the coming years.
"We are pleased that the results and efforts shown in Paris have seen an uplift in funding across aquatics for the next cycle into LA 2028. The invaluable Government and National Lottery support is so impactful in helping our people deliver those inspiring moments in the water, and with so many talented athletes - both in the established ranks and up-and-coming stars of tomorrow- working hard for the future, this funding helps give them and our world-class coach and support staff network the best platform to thrive, in the arena, training environments and in the impacts they are making out of the water as well."
UK Sport CEO Sally Munday added: "It's thanks to the unwavering support of the UK Government and our wonderful National Lottery players that we are able to announce this historic investment today, towards continuing to create the greatest decade of extraordinary sporting moments.
“The past few years have been tough for our sports with the delayed Tokyo Games and shortened Paris cycle, and we know finances remain under extreme pressure. We have looked to relieve some of this pressure through our investment today, however we know we must continue to innovate and collaborate, together, to grow a thriving sporting system that’s fit for the future.
“Huge credit to the leaders in our sports for all the hard work they’ve done, with us, over the past 18 months to put us in this brilliant position to be able to say we are ready to win well in the LA cycle and beyond."