11 medals and a pack of Paris 2024 pointers at World Aquatics Championships

Swimming 04 Jul 22

From swimming’s historic Olympics to diving’s best-ever World Championships, Great British aquatics is riding a wave all the way to Paris.

The World Aquatics Championships in Budapest was one of the first landmark events of the shortened Olympic cycle, yielding PBs, posers and pointers in equal measure.

New leaders stepped up in the absence of a clutch of big personalities, pointing to strength and depth that will lift all three disciplines through this cycle.

For most swimmers it was about carrying on where they left off in Tokyo, but not for Ben Proud.

Since an Olympic fifth place Proud has swum like a man possessed, overcoming winter disruption to lock out both short and long-course world titles. 

Britain’s only individual world champion in the Budapest pool, the Plymouth star delivered a lifetime best final swim of 21.32 to take gold in the splash and dash.

He has always been one of the best pure sprinters in the world but now has the golden glint in his eye to prove it, propelling him towards a third Olympics when he will be 29.

The new quick kid on the block is Lewis Burras, who ripped a British record to reach the 100m freestyle final on Worlds debut, finishing fourth.

Burras beat Tom Dean to the British title in May to launch the second phase of his career.

Previously based in Dubai, he has been working with former world record holder Zoe Baker in Winchester since last June and is shaping up to be a stalwart of major championship teams.

Speaking of stalwarts, in the absence of Adam Peaty and Duncan Scott, the spotlight fell squarely on Tom Dean.

It’s easy to forget it’s only the 22-year-old’s second World Championships such is his ability to back up and lead Britain to three medals.

The Olympic champion is fixated on building a legacy of medals and retained titles, starting out with 200m freestyle bronze and a leading role in freestyle and medley relay bronzes.

Tracking four seconds behind gold medal pace, adding fully fit and rested Peaty and Scott back into those relay quartets should plunge Britain back among the major medals.

Luke Greenbank’s brilliant run of major 200m backstroke medals continued with silver.

In Russian Evgeny Rylov’s ongoing absence, British swimming’s Mr. Consistent could be the closest challengers for the Americans to contend with through Paris.

There were no medals but progression for Olympian Brodie Williams, who finished fourth in the 200m backstroke, Laura Stephens and Medi Harris.

It was encouraging to see Freya Anderson back in tip top shape, fastest qualifier to the 200m freestyle final then fourth, and owner of a brilliant 52.70 4x100m freestyle anchor leg.

On the other end of the Duna Arena, Britain’s divers combined for their best-ever performance at World Championships.

With six medals they finished second on the medal table behind only China, a handsome return in the absence of a certain Tom Daley.

The redoubtable Jack Laugher became the first British diver to win three medals at a single World Championships.

Laugher had a rough Tokyo cycle but seems to have emerged a better athlete.

The synchro result was the same as the 2019 Worlds with Dan Goodfellow, silver, but the feeling with Anthony Harding appears altogether different.

The pair’s matching diving styles, Laugher’s return to the list on which he won gold with Chris Mears in Rio, and a junior-senior dynamic looks to fit snugly.

His individual remains as strong as ever, yielding bronze, although China locking out all 13 gold medals in the sport was quite a show of strength.

Matty Lee broke Chinese dominance with Daley in Tokyo and took silver on major debut with Noah Williams, some way behind the gold medal standard.

Amid uncertainty around Daley’s future in the sport, a 10m leadership role is growing on Lee who is now accessing a different list of dives with Williams.

Grace Reid was rightly delighted with a pair of top ten finishes to showcase her versatility, while Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Eden Cheng will hope for better in their individuals.

One of the most heartening sights was to see the first full British artistic swimming team in nearly a decade, that reached the final in both technical and free events.

Kate Shortman set a new personal best in the solo technical, with her partnership with Izzy Thorpe continuing for another cycle.

The Commonwealth Games meet will offer competition of Olympic standard for some swimmers, with top Australians eschewing Budapest a run at titles in Birmingham.

And with a Europeans for all in August, there’s no rest for this bunch.

They will return to Japan in July 2023 for another hectic World Championships and then it’s onto the Olympics, where more legends will be made.

Sportsbeat 2022