3 more British swimmers have signed contracts to join Adam Peaty at the 2018 Energy for Swim meet in Turin, Italy in December. Duncan Scott, Max Litchfield, and Mark Szaranek are all now formally committed to join the December short course meters meet.
Further, meet organizers have announced that Sweden’s Michelle Coleman, a 2-time European relay champion, has also joined the event.
While the names were announced today, organizers cited confidentiality clauses when asked whether the athletes signed before or after FINA voted in a new rules interpretation that would seem to block the meet from being sanctioned by the Italian Federation. Organizers did say, however, that the contents of their agreements has not changed after recent developments.
Scott and Litchfield, both of whom were previously announced as having committed via email, were both members of the 2016 British Olympic team. Scott won silver medals on the 800 free and 400 medley relay, while Litchfield finished 4th in the 400 IM. Litchfield withdrew from both the 2017 World Championships and 2018 Commonwealth Games, citing shoulder problems specifically in the latter decision, Scott would win 2 more medals at the World Championships, 6 more at the Commonwealth Games (including a 100 free gold individually), and 4 more at the European Championships (including a 200 free gold individually).
Szaranek is a new name in the mix that wasn’t previously announced. The Scotsman swam collegiately at the University of Florida and won a pair of medals, including 400 IM silver at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year representing his home nation.
The Swede Coleman returned to competition earlier this fall after a 7-month racing hiatus. In the brightest moments of Sweden’s women’s contingent, she swam with Sarah Sjostrom (also committed), Louise Hansson, and Magdalena Kuras to win a European title in the 400 free relay. A year later, Coleman also swam on Sweden’s World Championship silver-medal winning relay.
The meet is schedule to be held in Turin, Italy from December 20th-21st.
With all this excitement of swimmers making their voice heard I am still not comfortable with the fact that they are actually sabotaging WC. The world championships that was scheduled long time ago and was approved by all national associations. Was it done intentionally by Energy for Swim?
But every two years, swimmers opt out of the SC World Championships for personal and training reasons and for other competitions. They are never as star studded or deep as the LC version.
Long before he committed to Energy For Swim, Peaty had opted out of the SC World Championships. I can’t see how they are sabotaging a championship that is always an also ran.
Swimmers deserve to make a decent living. The ISL finally offers that possibility without the politics of FINA & IOC.
On a British point; We very rarely send more than six or seven swimmers to SCM events, whether World or European championships. I suspect that’s why we’ll see many Brits sign up; I doubt British Swimming ever had any intention of sending our top athletes to SC Worlds.
What is the position of British National Swimming Association when leading British swimmers said “NO” to FINA rule interpretation. This association does have some voice in FINA, doesn’t it?
And what is the position of USA swimming delegation in FINA?
It looks like disobeying the corporate discipline is a taboo for these apparatchiks.