Great Britain's Olympic open water swimming duo of Keri-anne Payne and Dan Fogg have been selected to represent Britain at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona this summer.
Reigning 10km world champion Payne (Warrender) and Fogg (British Gas Loughborough ITC) were automatically selected as a result of their efforts at London 2012 in the Serpentine, finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Fogg recently swam to his best ever international open water finish, taking gold at the fourth leg of the FINA 10km Marathon World Cup in Mexico while Payne will make her 2013 open water debut at the test event in June.
They will also be joined by senior international debutants Jack Burnell, a teammate of Fogg's at Loughborough, and Danielle Huskisson (University of Stirling) who qualified last week at the Portuguese Open Water Nationals in Montemor-o-Velho last week. Faced with 30mph winds and cold temperatures, Burnell and Huskisson overcame the conditions to finish as the top-ranked British swimmers to seal their place in Barcelona.
British Swimming Head Coach Bill Furniss said: “We have a good mix of experience and youth on the team for the World Championships this year. British Swimming has a strong tradition in this event and Jack and Danielle will learn a lot from both Keri-anne and Dan and also from the competition itself, which is important at the start of the next Olympic cycle."
© Sportsbeat 2013