Ben Proud Spearheads Aquatics GB Team For Budapest; Goodburn, Blocksidge & Okaro Also Selected
Ben Proud, Archie Goodburn, Amelie Blocksidge and Eva Okaro are among an Aquatics GB team of 11 selected for the World Short-Course Championships in Budapest.
The team – comprising six men and five women – is a mix of Olympic and world medallists and senior international debutants to compete at the event that runs from December 10-15 at the Duna Arena.
It marks Steven Tigg’s first competitive outing as Aquatics GB head coach following his appointment in October.
Archie Goodburn: Photo courtesy: Aquatics GB
Proud won silver in the 50 free at Paris 2024, 0.05 behind winner Cam McEvoy as he reached the Olympic rostrum on his third attempt.
The 30-year-old has reached the podium at each of the last two short-course worlds with gold at Abu Dhabi 2021 followed by silver behind Jordan Crooks in Melbourne a year later.
He came within 0.02 of Caeleb Dressel’s world record of 20.16 at last year’s European Short-Course Championships in a continental standard of 20.18, the second fastest performance all-time.
Budapest will conclude a fine 2024 for Proud who also won bronze at the World Championships in Doha behind Vladyslav Bukhov and McEvoy.
Goodburn revealed in June that he had been diagnosed with three inoperable brain tumours. Days later, he won the 50m breaststroke title at the Scottish National Open Championships in Edinburgh.
The 23-year-old was part of the Great Britain men’s 4×50 medley relay that won silver at last year’s short-course Europeans in Romania and he will reunite with Oli Morgan and Jacob Peters with Matt Richards the only member of the quartet not present in Budapest.
Peters missed out on the Olympics after finishing third in the trials where there’d been a degree of expectation that he would qualify after posting the swiftest time in prelims.
Also selected is Max Litchfield, who finished fourth in the 400IM in Paris for the third straight Games, and Josh Gammon.
Blocksidge makes her senior debut at 15 after winning multiple European junior titles in the pool and open water. The City of Salford swimmer has already made waves on the senior stage as a two-time British 1500 free champion and double 800 medallist.
Okaro became the first black woman to represent Great Britain in the Olympic pool, splitting 53.75 as the women’s 4×100 free relay finished seventh in Paris.
Tokyo mixed relay gold medallist Freya Anderson, Abbie Wood, fifth in the 200IM in Paris and 4×2 silver medallist in Doha, and Angharad Evans, sixth in the 100 breaststroke on her Olympic debut, all travel to the Hungarian capital.
Tigg, who replaced Bill Furniss at the helm of Aquatics GB, said:
Amelie Blocksidge: Photo Courtesy: Aquatics GB
“We are really looking forward to bringing this team together and getting some valuable early-season racing under the belt as we begin a fresh Olympic cycle towards LA – with the first major focus being about building towards next summer’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
“The World Short Course Championships are always an enjoyable and insightful competition opportunity, which provide a chance to fine-tune technical skills and routines in the high-performance arena.
“To be able to bring experienced Olympic and world performers like Ben and Freya together with some younger athletes who are starting out on exciting journeys in the sport is fantastic, and every single member of the team will undoubtedly get a lot out of the trip.”
Of Goodburn, he added:
“We must also add how great it is that Archie will be part of the team in Budapest.
“He has shown remarkable resilience over the past six months, and seeing him on the blocks in a few weeks’ time will be true testament to that.”
Aquatics GB team for World Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships, Budapest, Hungary (10-15 December):
Freya Anderson, Aquatics GB Performance Centre Bath
Amelie Blocksidge, City of Salford
Angharad Evans, University of Stirling
Josh Gammon, Aquatics GB Performance Centre Bath
Archie Goodburn, University of Edinburgh
Max Litchfield, Aquatics GB Performance Centre Loughborough
Oliver Morgan, University of Birmingham
Eva Okaro, Repton
Jacob Peters, Aquatics GB Performance Centre Bath
Ben Proud, Bath University
Abbie Wood, Aquatics GB Performance Centre Loughborough