Category: Swimming

Adam Peaty will target a third straight Olympic 100m breaststroke title after being named in Great Britain’s swimming squad for the Paris Games.

The 29-year-old is one of eight Olympic champions named in Team GB’s 33-strong team across pool and marathon swimming.

Anna Hopkin, Kathleen Dawson, Tom Dean, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott are also in the squad.

Team GB’s swimmers won a record eight medals in Tokyo and will be hoping for more success in Paris, with Peaty among those aiming for gold.

“I’m thrilled to have made my third Olympic team,” he said.

“It’s always amazing to be part of Team GB, but with it being so close to home in Paris this summer, and us having more home fans there supporting us, it’s even more exciting.”

Automatic qualification spots for Team GB were secured at the British trials earlier this month.

Richards won the 100m and 200m freestyle events at the trials, while Scott took victory in the 200m individual medley.

Dean will not get the chance to defend his 200m title in Paris after finishing third in the trials behind Richards and Scott, with only two swimmers able to be selected for the event at the Olympics.

Aquatics GB performance director Chris Spice said: “This is such an exciting group of athletes that we will be taking to Paris this summer, coming off the back of a brilliant six days of racing at our Olympic selection event in the Speedo Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, featuring world-class finals performances, British records, plenty of personal bests and all of our athletes executing in the arena as we know they do so well.

“As well as 12 Olympic debutants across the pool and marathon programmes, we will have five three-time Olympians and the valuable experiences of so many who were part of a memorable Games in Tokyo, so we cannot wait to see how this team comes together with the aim of swimming faster in the summer.

“We know each and every athlete can do that, and that would put us in a very good place in Paris, where we are relishing having packed crowds and plenty of British support roaring us on.”

Hector Pardoe, Leah Crisp and Toby Robinson will compete in the marathon swimming events.

Oliver Morgan sealed his place at the Paris 2024 Olympics in spectacular style by breaking the British 100m backstroke record.

Liam Tancock’s previous record had stood for 15 years, but Morgan’s final time of 52.70 rewrote the history books on day two of the British Championships.

He went under 53 seconds for the first time in the morning heats, before bettering his own best to defend his title just hours later.

It is the next step in an extraordinary journey for Morgan, who did not start competing at national level until the age of 16.

Morgan, now 20, burst onto the scene at elite level this time last year when he won three titles at the British Championships.

Just 12 months on and he is now going to be competing on the biggest stage in Paris this summer.

“If you asked me two years ago if I would be in this position, I’d have said there’s no way,” Morgan said.

“I can’t put it into words.”

Speaking about coming to the sport considerably later than many of his opponents, Morgan said: “It proves you don’t have to be there as a youngster.

“I did what I enjoyed when I was young. I played football and mountain biked.”

Jonny Marshall also went under the Olympic qualification time of 52.73 but had to settle for second, although it should be enough for him to reach the Games, while Tokyo bronze medallist Luke Greenbank finished third.

Elsewhere, 14-year-old Amelie Blocksidge successfully defended her 1500m freestyle title but was outside the Olympic qualification time.

Scotland’s Kathleen Dawson – whose progress has been stunted by injury over the last three years – did qualify for Paris by winning the 100m backstroke.

Alice Tai is in a strong position to reach the Paralympics after coming out on top in the 100m Para-backstroke event.