Some of Great Britain’s future swimming stars have been selected to be a part of Team GB’s squad for the 2023 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF).
The multi-sport competition takes place in Maribor, Slovenia from 23 to 29 July and will see more than 3,000 athletes from 48 European nations compete across 11 Olympic sports.
Team GB will be represented in five sports by 39 athletes with 16 of those being swimmers.
Nine of those swimmers are based at clubs in England with a number on Swim England Talent programmes as they look to improve on Great Britain’s second place finish in the swimming medal table from 2022.
At last year’s event the 16-strong team won 10 medals across five days of competition with four golds, two silvers and four bronze.
EYOFs play an important role in the development of young British athletes, providing crucial multi-sport event experience and guiding them towards realising their Olympic ambitions.
A number of athletes that have competed at EYOF have gone on to compete at the Olympic Games including double Olympic swimming champion, Rebecca Adlington.
“An important steppingstone”
Amongst the British contingent is City of Sheffield swimmer Phoebe Cooper and City of Salford’s Amelie Blocksidge who were both part of Swim England’s successful Youth Performance Squad at the Swedish Grand Prix in March.
Cooper returns to the squad after winning three medals – one of each colour – at last year’s competition in Slovakia whilst Blocksidge will come into the competition on the back of her first major international appearance for Great Britain at the European Junior Championships just two weeks before the event.
On being selected Cooper said she was looking forward to building on her experiences from last year’s event: “It’s great to be part of the EYOF team again – last year was an amazing competition.
“We really bonded as a team and this made you feel that Team GB was behind you.
“I’m really looking forward to this year’s event, as I can build on my previous experience. I hope the whole team can thrive at the competition.”
Georgina Harland, MBE, Team GB’s Chef de Mission, said: “Being selected to represent Team GB is a very special moment, and I am sure that the 39 young athletes selected to take part in this summer’s EYOF will grab this exciting opportunity and use it as an important steppingstone in their future sporting careers.
“Maribor is set to be a fantastic event and I look forward to watching all of the athletes competing to the best of their ability in July.”
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Source: www.swimming.org
