British Swimming launched a new award to recognize outstanding athletic achievement for it’s swimmers. This is following one of the most successful seasons for British swimmers ever, which concluded with the British topping the medal tables at the 2014 European Championships.
The new “Athlete of the year” award will be awarded to the swimmer who demonstrates the greatest sporting performance at a swimming event throughout the season.
With two incredible international competitions with the likes of the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships, the British were extremely successful. At the Commonwealth Games, British swimmers made up a total of 15 gold medals, at the European Championships they racked up 11 golds and set two new world records.
The first nominees for the award all competed internationally this summer, and demonstrated a multitude of success in a wide variety of events.
Breaststroker Adam Peaty is one of the five nominees in line to be selected for the award. This summer he had an amazing breakout year which included winning the 100m breaststroke at both the Commonwealth Games and European Championships as well as setting a new world record in the 50m breaststroke.
He’ll have competition from fellow breaststroker Ross Murdoch who is also nominated for the award. Murdoch also had a breakthrough year much like Peaty. At the Commonwealth Games he won the 200 breaststroke donning the Scottish cap, taking down favorite Michael Jamieson in the process. Following that performance he took two silver medals at the European Championships, including one in the 100 breaststroke behind Peaty.
The three other nominees are all women, and both had very successful seasons. Fran Halsall is one of the picks. As a double gold medallist from the European Championships with wins in the 50m freestyle and the 50m backstroke, there’s no denying that her sprinting prowess could make her one of the favorite recipients for the reward.
On the other side of the coin, Jazz Carlin was also nominated and her distance swims gave her two golds at the European Championships and one at the Commonwealth Games.
Siobhan-Marie O’Connor is the last nominee on the list. She had an incredible Commonwealth Games which included six medals, three of which were individual. Of those three individual medals, her best performance was a gold in the 200 IM where she faced some stiff competition to come out on top.
British Swimming fans will be able to vote on who they want to win the athlete of the year award here. The polls will be open until December 16th. With the addition of this award, junior athletes of the year awards, marathon athlete of the year award, and the junior marathon athlete of the year award will be rewarded.
The athletes for those awards will be selected internally by British Swimming, and presented at the same time as the athlete of the year award.
