Courtesy: Aquatics GB
Fifteen Paralympic champions are among the 36 athletes invited on to the Aquatics GB para-swimming World Class Programme (WCP) for the 2025 season, off the back of an unforgettable Paralympic campaign in Paris.
Britain’s tally of 18 golds at La Defense Arena was part of an overall 32-strong medal haul, seeing them place second in the swimming medal table and providing an enviable platform as the next cycle towards LA 2028 begins, with this year culminating at the Para Swimming World Championships in Singapore in September.
Maisie Summers-Newton, Stephen Clegg, Alice Tai and Poppy Maskill – Paralympics GB’s most-decorated athlete in Paris – are among those to have claimed multiple titles last summer who are on the Podium tier of the 2025 WCP, while Will Ellard and Rhys Darbey make the step up from Podium Potential after golden campaigns in Paris.
The current Podium Potential tier features a host of future talents and some athletes looking to make their mark on the senior international scene again this year. Both Podium and Podium Potential programme tiers receive opportunities and targeted financial assistance from UK Sport through the World Class Performance Programme’s Athlete Performance Award (APA), with athletes eligible to benefit from competition and training camp opportunities across the season, as well as access to the world-class Aquatics GB performance and sports science and sports medicine services.
As the programme looks to continue going from strength to strength after that Paralympic success and a memorable home World Championship campaign in Manchester the previous year, Aquatics GB lead for para-swimming Adam Clarke is excited by the diverse experience across this year’s athlete cohort and what it can mean for the future.
“So many of the swimmers on this programme have produced outstanding performances over recent years and shown remarkable consistency in that time too – and off the back of the Paralympic Games, we are looking forward to seeing how those athletes thrive at the start of a new cycle, with the support of an outstanding staff team around them,” he said.
“We also have a host of young competitors who enjoyed breakthrough Games in Paris and will be looking to develop over this season, both in training and when they get the big arena exposure, with a focus on building towards September’s World Championships in Singapore. The upcoming Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in London is a great example of that, and I look forward to seeing some of the new cohort making their mark and taking in that racing experience also.”
Swimmers invited on to 2025 Aquatics GB para-swimming World Class Programme
* Titles of Aquatics GB Performance Centre shortened to ‘Performance Centre’ in this list
Podium
- Ellie Challis, Manchester Performance Centre (England)
- Stephen Clegg, Edinburgh University (Scotland)
- Rhys Darbey, Nofio Cymru (Wales)
- Sam Downie, University of Stirling (Scotland)
- William Ellard, Norwich Swans (England)
- Bethany Firth, Ards Swimming Club (Northern Ireland)
- Grace Harvey, Manchester Performance Centre (England)
- Suzanna Hext, Swindon ASC (England)
- Louise Fiddes, Hatfield Swimming Club (England)
- Tully Kearney, Loughborough University (England)
- Poppy Maskill, Manchester Performance Centre (England)
- Olivia Newman-Baronius, Maxwell Swim Club (England)
- Rebecca Redfern, Worcester Swimming Club (England)
- Faye Rogers, University of Aberdeen Performance Swim Team (Scotland)
- Toni Shaw, University of Aberdeen Performance Swim Team (Scotland)
- Georgia Sheffield, Manchester Performance Centre (England)
- Maisie Summers-Newton, Northampton Swimming Club (England)
- Alice Tai, Ealing Swimming Club (England)
- Mark Tompsett, Manchester Performance Centre (England)
- Callie-Ann Warrington, RTW Monson (England)
- Brock Whiston, Barking & Dagenham AC (England)
- Iona Winnifrith, Tonbridge Swimming Club (England)
Podium Potential
- Roan Brennan, Basildon & Phoenix Swimming Club (England)
- Astrid Carroll, Stockport Metro (England)
- Bruce Dee, Northampton Swimming Club (England)
- Amber Haycock, Northampton Swimming Club (England)
- Eliza Humphrey, Northampton Swimming Club (England)
- Scarlett Humphrey, Northampton Swimming Club (England)
- Ella Letton-Jones, Swim Gwynedd (Wales)
- Louis Lawlor, City of Glasgow (Scotland)
- Megan Neave, Repton (England)
- Siena Oxby, Stockport Metro (England)
- Lily Rice, Pembroke & District ASC (Wales)
- Harry Stewart, Plymouth Leander (England)
- Cameron Vearncombe, Manchester Performance Centre (England)
- Kieran Williams, Manchester Performance Centre (England)
