2026 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships
- Tuesday, April 14- Sunday, April 19, 2026
- London Aquatics Centre
- LCM (50m)
- Aquatics GB European Championships Selection Criteria
- Commonwealth Games Selection Criteria
On Wednesday, British Olympian and 2025 World Championships gold medalist Tom Dean announced on Instagram that he would not be racing at the 2026 British National Championships due to a shoulder injury.
View this post on Instagram
“I’m buzzing with the quality of the work banked in training recently – the numbers have been really exciting
A shoulder injury means my team and I have made the decision not to race in Stratford next we prioritse rehab and stay focused on an exciting summer of racing ahead 🏴 🇬🇧”
Dean, who will turn 26 in May,was entered in the 100 free, 200 free, and 200 IM for this year’s Nationals meet.
He had an off year in 2025. In 2024, he made the Olympic team in the 200 IM, where he finished 5th overall, as well as on the 400 free and 800 freestyle relays.
At last year’s Nationals, he only swam the 100 free, finishing 3rd in 48.40. He qualified for the British Worlds team in the 200 IM, where he ultimately finished 23rd in 2:00.96, nearly two seconds off his season best time of 1:58.80 from the AP Race London in May and more than four seconds off his lifetime best 1:56.07 from July of 2023. He also earned a gold medal as a member of the prelims edition of the 800 freestyle relay, splitting 1:46.35.
He wrapped up the year at the SC European Championships, where he didn’t qualify for the final in any of his events with his highest finish coming in at 10th in the 100 IM.
This year’s Nationals are a primary selection meet for the 2026 European Championships according to the 2026 Aquatics GB Selection Policy which states:
“3.1 Selections will be made:
3.1.1 from performance at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships (Singapore, 27th — 3rd August 2025)
3.1.2 from the 2026 AGB Swimming Championships, London, 14th — 19th April 2026
3.1.3 at the discretion of the GB Head Coach and Performance Director…”
The meet is also one of the selection opportunities for the Commonwealth Games in July, though the selection policy is less direct with all spots falling to the “discretion of the selection panel”.
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Dean changed his training base following the 2025 Worlds meet, moving to the Stirling Training Centre to swim under head coach David McNulty. He left his previous training base at Bath to swim with Duncan Scott, Katie Shanahan, Angharad Evans, and Freya Anderson.
He recently swam at the Edinburgh International meet at the beginning of March, setting a time of 1:49.76 in the 200 freestyle prelims before swimming 1:50.41 in the final.
Dean will be relying on a discretionary selection for the European Championships. The European Championships have a higher roster limit than the World Championships and Olympic Games, which improves his chances. The overall limit is 40 swimmers and there are a maximum of 4 athletes per event.
Tom has had a remarkably tough 12 months.
He was one of many impacted at the World Championships, yet still delivered in the heats, doing exactly what was needed to give others the best chance to perform in the final. Since then, after making a significant change in environment, he’s been hit again with injury.
I hope Swim England and AGB look beyond the noise from SwimSwam’s keyboard critics and give him the opportunity this summer to show exactly where he stands.
Feeling selection should be earned is not “keyboard” criticism. I understand banking trust and don’t dispute that he has had rough luck with his health, but I’d argue said goodwill was used last year when he was selected for the 200im despite not swimming either of his primary events at British Championships. I am a huge fan of his but I don’t think Tom has shown enough over the past 2 years to warrant discretionary selection for Europeans. I expect him to attend Commonwealths though.
He was pre-selected in 2025 for the 4x200m Freestyle, alongside the others who swam in the Paris final, hence why he likely bypassed the AGB Championships. I’d also assume his 200IM swim came off the back of there being only one GB entrant (Scott), coupled with his credentials as a 2023 World medallist and 2024 Olympic finalist.
Call it “goodwill” if you like, but I don’t see any basis for suggesting he’s used it all up.
can understand medical exemptions being used when someone has been on form and unfortunately misses trials through illness. But there are so many faster 100/200 swimmers over the last 12 months. Think only 10th in England. Doesn’t seem in the spirit of having trials where people making times have been excluded.
i think the time has passed for GB to get that wr in the 4 x 200
Not necessarily. Tom was way off his best in the Tokyo relay final and McMillan is doing really well at present. Let’s see what Euros brings.
I can’t imagine he will be picked. He underperformed last year and then has had a bunch of time off since then and now injured
You would think that but this is Aquatics GB we are talking about.
Might be for commonwealths as there’s discretion there but would be surprised if he was for Europeans
England will need him for Commies.
He’ll be picked for Commies, as Scott & McMillan will be competing for Scotland, and Richards for Wales.
McMillan is North Irish, no?
Yes, but also Scotland eligible now I believe, and the Scots seem to be very good at pulling people in – I noticed half the swimmers at Scottish age group champs this week were swimming for clubs south of the border. Evans, Schlosshan also recently switched, George Smith too. Eligibility for Commies is lax and Scotland are very good at cultivating that to benefit Scottish Swimming, and props to them for that!
Assuming they pick him, McMillan will be racing CWG for NI and Euros for GBR.
To swim for SCO at CWG (without birth or family eligibility), then you need 3 years residency.
Note World Aquatics only need 1 year for their meets.
Somehow, he is registered on the British Swimming website as representing Scotland! A mystery to me too. Perhaps because he is now living/swimming in Scotland.
And europeans also. reread his post. bro literally knows he is getting selected anyway
He certainly doesn’t really have a case individually. England’s 4×2 doesn’t look great so he could sneak in there, but it would take some serious gymnastics from AGB to get him on the team for Europeans – But I have no doubt they’ll manage it. If Dave tells them he is in shape, they’ll take him.
He’s at Stirling now. Ben Higson is chief coach there?
Yes, Ben Higson now oversees the Centre in Scotland.
Now based in Stirling so more likely consultation with the support team there. It’s fair to say selection presents a degree of complexity, but not insurmountable given historical protocols. There’s little reason to believe he can’t return to an appropriate performance level by Glasgow and Paris, injury permitting.
he will get selected anyway. he basically did nothing at last years trials and still got selected in events like 200 IM. funnily enough the things he actually got selected for were the ones he was deselected from (the 4×2 and 4×1)
3x Olympic Champion*
I also feel like they didn’t describe him very well. He is not just a British Olympian
Yeah. They skipped over that. Discussed Paris but failed to mention a gold in the relay. Let alone Tokyo. What’s that about?
Because he’s not American?
Just clocked this one, pretty poor but not unexpected on here. He’d get more hype signing for a Division 7 College.
Exactly this.
American swimmers who swam only relay prelims that won a relay gold are always described as “Olympic champion”
But non American swimmers? No. Never.
Meg Harris was only described as “Olympic silver medalist” the other day, never mind she swam in two 4×100 free final that won gold.