Earlier this week British Swimming released the roster of 48 athletes selected for its World Class Program (WCP) for the 2019/20 season. Per British Swimming, an extremely thorough selection process was implemented, analyzing athletes’ past and current performances and a robust assessment of their ability to win medals at both this and future Olympiads.
The athletes on the list, which you can see in its entirety here, are designated as ‘Podium’ or ‘Podium Potential’, receiving program opportunities and targeted financial assistance from UK Sport through the World Class Performance Program’s Athlete Performance Award.
For historical perspective, at the time the 2015/16’s edition of the British Swimming roster was released, the Podium-level support recognized those athletes having the potential to medal in the near-term, mainly at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, while the Podium Potential athletes were those in which a longer-term investment is being made.
As such, we reviewed Podium-level athletes’ performances at the 2016 European Championships, Olympic Games and Short Course World Championships, while also taking a peek at how the Podium Potential athletes from the 2015/16 roster fared at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2018 European Championships, as well as the 2019 World Championships.
Below is the list of the 21 athletes within that category and their medal production across the 2016 European Championships, the 2016 Olympic Games, as well as the 2016 Short Course World Championships.
All told, 29% of the Podium group swam away with at least one medal at that year’s Euro Championships, while 43% raced to at least one medal in Rio.
| Athlete | Results at 2016 European C’ships | Results at 2016 Olympic Games | Results at 2016 Short Course World C’ships |
| Jack Burnell | 10k OW silver | 10k OW disqualification | |
| Jazz Carlin | 400 free silver 800 free silver |
400 free silver 800 free silver |
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| Nick Grainger | |||
| James Guy | 200 free bronze 400 medley relay gold |
800 free relay silver 400 medley relay silver |
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| Fran Halsall | 50 free silver 50 fly bronze 400 medley relay bronze |
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| Calum Jarvis | |||
| Hannah Miley | |||
| Stephen Milne | 800 free relay silver | ||
| Ross Murdoch | 50 breast bronze 100 breast silver 200 breast gold |
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| Siobhan-Marie O’Connor | 400 medley relay gold | 200 IM silver | |
| Keri-anne Payne | |||
| Adam Peaty | 50 breast gold 100 breast gold 400 medley relay gold |
100 breast gold 400 medley relay silver |
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| Ben Proud | 50 free bronze 50 fly bronze |
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| Lauren Quigley | |||
| Robbie Renwick | 800 free relay silver | ||
| Duncan Scott | 400 medley relay gold | 800 free relay silver 400 medley relay silver |
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| Liam Tancock | |||
| Chris Walker-Hebborn | 400 medley relay gold | 400 medley relay silver | |
| Dan Wallace | 800 free relay silver | ||
| Andrew Willis | 200 breast silver | ||
| Aimee Willmott |
Moving on to the Podium Potential group, of which there were 45 designated swimmers in the 2015/16 funded program (not narrowing down whom actually made each competition’s roster) 16% of the entire group earned at least one medal at the Commonwealth Games, 16% at the European Championships and 4% earned at least one medal at the World Championships.
| Athlete | Results at the 2018 Commonwealth Games | Results at the 2018 European Championships | Results at the 2019 World Championships |
| Luke Greenbank | 200 back bronze 400 medley relay gold |
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| James Wilby | 50 breast bronze 100 breast silver 200 breast gold 400 medley relay silver |
100 breast silver 200 breast silver 400 medley relay gold |
100 breast silver 400 medley relay gold |
| Cameron Kurle | 400 free silver 800 free relay silver |
800 free relay bronze 800 free mixed relay bronze |
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| Holly HIbbott | 400 free silver 800 free relay bronze |
400 free bronze 800 free relay bronze 800 free mixed relay bronze |
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| Sarah Vasey | 50 breast gold | ||
| Craig McLean | 400 free relay bronze | 800 free mixed relay bronze | |
| Daniel Jervis | 1500 free silver | ||
| Chloe Tutton | 200 breast bronze 400 medley relay bronze |
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| Max Litchfield | 200 IM bronze 400 IM silver |
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| Imogen Clark | 50 breast silver | ||
| Molly Renshaw | 200 breast bronze |
A 43% success rate at medaling in Rio seems like a good batting average. It is, right? Respectful golf claps sent from my cubicle. It’s even better considering GBR had the most 4th place finishes behind the Russians in Brazil. Not so certain about the success of the podium potential list but with the exception of the no-brainers I don’t think any country is really good at predicting success with the next wave.