Aquatics GB has named 17 swimmers to their team for the 2025 European Short Course Swimming Championships, set to be held in Lublin, Poland from the 2nd-7th of December. Looking to lead the charge for the Brits are defending champions Freya Anderson, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott.
In 2023, Anderson claimed the 200 freestyle title on the final night, winning in 1:52.16, and helped the Brits not only win the overall medal table, collecting 23, but also to lead in the gold medal column with nine. Scott won the 200 IM in convincing fashion with both a Scottish and British National record time of 1:50.98. Richards climbed to the top of the podium, like Anderson in the 200 free, stopping the clock in 1:41.01, .11 ahead of teammate James Guy. It was Guy’s first international medal in the 200 free in seven years.
Joining those three are fellow 2023 individual medalists Freya Colbert (20o free- bronze, 400 IM – silver), Luke Greenbank (200 back – silver), and Katie Shanahan (200 back – silver). After a breakout summer, Filip Nowacki will be in the hunt for his first senior individual international medals. Nowacki earned double gold in the 100/200 breaststroke at Junior Worlds. So to will Eva Okaro. Okaro, who helped Team GB win the silver last year in Budapest at Short Course Worlds in the 400 medley relay. Okaro has shifted training bases to Texas, as she competes for the Longhorns in the NCAA, recently setting a new school record in the 100 yard free.
Full Roster (17)
While the roster has medal potentials up and down it, including the likes of Angharad Evans, Tom Dean and Max Litchfield, the story may be more of who is not on the roster.
2025 World Silver medalist in the 50 free, Ben Proud, is absent from the roster. Proud was Britain lone individual medalists from Singapore and is the defending European short course champion in the event. Proud announced earlier this past fall that he was joining the Enhanced Games, noting his “…ambition has always been to be the fastest man on the planet” but also commenting on the financial incentives attached to the Enhanced Games.
Proud is not the only the swimmer of note not making the trip to Poland, especially considering as this year’s team in less than half the size as the team sent in 2023. James Guy, the Aquatics GB Champion Athlete for 2025, is notably absent as too is Abbie Wood. Wood won Great Britain’s lone individual medals at the 2024 SC World Championships, claiming bronze in both the 200 and 400 IM, as well as leading off the silver medal winning 400 medley relay.
While the decrease in roster size is noteworthy, the 2023 edition served as stepping stone to the lead-up to the 2024 Olympic Games, and as noted by Aquatics GB’s Bill Furniss, “The European Short Course Championships are a great opportunity for us to assess where the athletes are at come the end of the first training block of Olympic year”.
2025 was a busy year on the calendar for Aquatics GB, as in addition to their domestic meets, they fielded teams at Worlds, Junior Worlds, European Juniors and the European U-23 Championships. At European Juniors, Great Britain topped the medal table with nine golds and 19 total medals, while at the U-23 meet, they ranked just 9th in the gold medal column with two, but tied for the most overall medals at 11.
Looking forward to seeing what Nowacki can do in short course. Ohashi’s world junior record would be a good target.
The selection policy listed a roster limit of 30. Interesting to see medalists from World Juniors like Jacob Mills etc not going