With the Olympic Games in Tokyo pushed back by 12 months, a number of our swimmers have chosen to take up a place at one of the British Swimming National Centres to finalise their preparations.
Joining the Bath National Centre is Freya Anderson, who will continue the relationship she has been building with David McNulty over the past 12 months. As part of a phased transition, Anderson, who has already been spending blocks of time down in Bath, will make the move south on a permanent basis.
Speaking
of the switch, Anderson was quick to point out the debt of gratitude she owes
to Ellsemere College and her current coach, Alan Bircher.
“I’m forever grateful for what Alan’s done with me and the programme at Ellesmere. It’s going to be sad as I’ve been there for five years, but I think it’s the right time to do it and have a new start.
“I’m really excited to get going in Bath and it’s a really good environment down there, with all the senior swimmers, which is something I’ve never had before as I’ve always trained at a junior level. The transition has felt really seamless; I went to Australia on the Bath camp, which was amazing. We spent three weeks out there in January/February time and then I’ve taken visits down to Bath to see myself on the underwater cameras and have a week training with the group, so I’m used to what it’s like down there already.”
Joining Anderson in Bath are World Championship representative Hollie Hibbott and double British champion Leah Crisp. Also moving to the South West city to link up with Jol Finck are Jacobs Peters and Brodie Williams, the latter having made his senior short-course debut at the European Short Course Championships in Glasgow last December.
Elsewhere, Anna Hopkin, who is a World Championship finalist and European Short Course and Commonwealth Games medallist will relocate to the Loughborough National Centre under the guidance of Mel Marshall, whilst European Junior medallist Charlie Hutchinson has also chosen Loughborough and will work with Dave Hemmings.
Last but by no means least is Olympian Cam Kurle, the European champion freestyler swapping Bath for the University of Stirling programme, where he will swim alongside his relay teammate Duncan Scott in Steve Tigg’s coaching group.
British Swimming will be catching up with the aforementioned swimmers over the next few weeks to hear more about their moves, so stay tuned for further details.
National Centre switches
Freya Anderson from Ellesmere to Bath NC (David McNulty)Leah Crisp from Leeds to Bath NC (David McNulty)
Hollie Hibbott from Stockport to Bath NC (David McNulty)
Jacob Peters from Poole SC to Bath NC (Jol Finck)
Brodie Williams from Millfield School to Bath NC (Jol Finck)
Anna Hopkin from USA to Loughborough NC (Mel Marshall)
Charlie Hutchison from Ellesmere to Loughborough NC (Dave Hemmings)
Cameron Kurle from Bath NC to University of Stirling (Steve
Tigg)
All of our swimmers will make the move to their new training bases once the UK Government updates its current social distancing rules and it is safe to do so.