Team GB have announced the athletes selected to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the 2019 European Games.
The announcement sees 100 athletes confirmed from 11 sports selected to be part of Team GB
Minsk 2019 is the second iteration of the European Games and will be held in the Belarussian capital from 21st – 30th June, with the Opening Ceremony on Friday 21st June.
As with the inaugural Games four years ago at Baku 2015, British female athletes will outnumber their male teammates at the Games.
Over 4,000 athletes from 50 countries will compete across 10 days in 200 different medal events with the Opening and Closing Ceremony being held in the Dinamo National Olympic Stadium.
Minsk 2019 represents the last senior multi-sport event prior to next summer’s Olympic Games and will provide invaluable experience for the British athletes hoping to travel to Tokyo. Team GB will compete at Minsk 2019 in archery, badminton, boxing, canoe sprint, cycling, gymnastics, judo, karate, shooting, table tennis and wrestling.
The Games is also an important qualification step on the road to Tokyo 2020 for some sports, with direct qualification of quota places for three sports – archery, shooting and table tennis – and important ranking points for others.
Four years ago, Team GB enjoyed success in the first European Games in Baku, winning 47 medals, including 18 gold medals. Amongst the gold medal winning athletes in Azerbaijan were boxers Nicola Adams and Joe Joyce, swimmer Duncan Scott and Jade Jones in taekwondo.
There will be 18 athletes returning for their second Games, including defending women’s skeet champion Amber Hill and Brinn Bevan in the men’s artistic gymnastics.
Selected in the team are 25 returning Olympians, from the last three summer Olympic Games, including medallists Jason Kenny, Katy Marchant and Sally Conway, as well as athletes from two non-Olympic gymnastics disciplines, aerobic and acrobatic.
The Team GB delegation will be led by Chef de Mission, Paul Ford and supported by Deputy Chef de Mission, Laura Hanna. Ford will act as Deputy Chef de Mission at Tokyo 2020 and Hanna, who has been part of the staff for the last five Games, will also be part of the wider Tokyo 2020 team.
Speaking after the team announcement, Ford said: “Minsk 2019 provides an important pathway towards Tokyo 2020 for sports. With automatic qualification of quota places for some, ranking points for others and three continental championships for sports you can see why Team GB has such a strong delegation going to the Games.
“It is an exciting mix of athletes and I look forward to the second European Games and the performances that I’m sure will impress and excite in equal measure.”
This excitement was matched by athletes following selection as a number commented on being part of Team GB and what the Minsk 2019 European Games hold in store.
Recurve women: Naomi Folkard Bryony Pitman Sarah Bettles Recurve men: Tom Hall Alexander Wise Patrick Huston Compound woman: Lucy Mason Compound man: Adam Ravenscroft
Christopher ADCOCK Gabrielle ADCOCK Chloe BIRCH Marcus ELLIS Kirsty GILMOUR Chris LANGRIDGE Toby PENTY Lauren SMITH
Aqeel AHMED (-49kg)
Galal YAFAI (-52kg)
Peter McGRAIL (-56kg)
Calum FRENCH (-60kg)
Luke McCORMACK (-64kg)
Pat McCORMACK (-69kg)
Mark DICKINSON (-75kg)
Ben WHITTAKER (-81kg)
Cheavon CLARKE (-91kg)
Frazer CLARKE (+91kg)
Rosie ECCLES (-69kg)
Lauren PRICE (-75kg)
Thomas LUSTY
Afton FITZHENRY
Chloe BRACEWELL
Katie REID
Megan BARKER
Anna DOCHERTY
Jenny HOLL
Rebecca RAYBOULD
Jess ROBERTS
Jack CARLIN
Jason KENNY
Ryan OWENS
Joseph TRUMAN
Sophie CAPEWELL
Katy MARCHANT
Jim BROWN
Charley CALVERT
Gabriel CULLAIGH
Scott THWAITES
Ethan VERNON
Alice BARNES
Rhona CALLANDER
Anna HENDERSON
Nicola JUNIPER
Hayley SIMMONDS
Erin HENDERSON
Sacha MUIR
Chloe ROWLANDS
Renee AUGIER
Kate DONNELLY
Niamh KEANE
Isidora VUCICEVIC
Rhys WILLIAMS
Brinn BEVAN
Jake JARMAN
Giarnni REGINI-MORAN
Becky DOWNIE
Georgia-Mae FENTON
Isabelle SONGHURST
Corey WALKES
Ashley McKENZIE (-60kg)
Stuart McWATT (-81kg)
Frazer CHAMBERLAIN (-90kg)
Max STEWART (-90kg)
Chelsie GILES (-52kg)
Lucy RENSHALL (-63kg)
Alice SCHLESINGER (-63kg)
Sally CONWAY (-70kg)
Gemma HOWELL (-70kg)
Natalie POWELL (-78kg)
Jemima YEATS-BROWN (-78kg)
Sarah ADLINGTON (+78kg)
Amy CONNELL (-55kg)
Joe KELLAWAY(-75kg)
Kirsty BARR
Matthew COWARD-HOLLEY
Aaron HEADING
Abbey LING
Elena ALLEN
Jeremy BIRD
Amber HILL
Ben LLEWELLIN
Katie GLEESON
Seonaid McINTOSH
Kristian CALLAGHAN
Sam GOWIN
Charlotte CAREY
Paul DRINKHALL
Tin-Tin HO
Liam PITCHFORD
Samuel WALKER
Georgina NELTHORPE