Britain’s swimmers bound for the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest will begin a vital phase of their preparations when they come together for a National Camp in Asia next week.
A team of 29 swimmers was selected at last month’s British Swimming Championships and they will now begin their final 11 weeks of hard work with an outdoor camp in Thailand (8 to 17 May).
The team will continue to travel east and will compete at the Japan Open in Tokyo (19 to 21 May where they will experience the culture and environment ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
In June they will gather once again for the Seven Hills Meet in Rome, Italy (23-25 June) before the team converges on Edinburgh for a final preparation camp ahead of the World Championships (23-30 July).
For Olympic Champion Adam Peaty, the British Swimming National Camp offers a perfect environment in which to put in a hard block of training in and out of the water.
“Thailand is the first stopping point for the World Championship team so I’m very excited to be there. My plan is to refine a few areas, work hard and enjoy it,” said Peaty.“I’ll be pushing it hard in the pool and gym every single day. I’m always going to be heading up the numbers in the gym while working towards the little improvements across my performance."
- Adam Peaty
“The Japan Open is all about racing hard at this time of the season. I’ll be looking to refine my race skills and make progress across the areas where I’m maybe a bit weaker.”
British Swimming Head Coach Bill Furniss believes the strategy of combining the National Camp with competition opportunities over the next three months offers an opportunity for the team to develop a strong dynamic while continuing their preparations.
“The first time everyone will come together as a team will be in Thailand,” said Furniss. “I think this is an important opportunity as it brings everyone together; athletes, coaches and support staff who will be working together at this summer’s World Championships. It provides a vital opportunity to build relationships as soon as we can.
“We’ve got some good work planned around team behaviours and on every camp we introduce a particular theme to follow. This time it will see a focus on starts, turns and finishes.”
- Bill Furniss - British Swimming GB Head Coach
The location of the camp and competition has been designed to expose the British Swimming team to a different culture as they work towards their long-term goal.
“Following the camp we will fly straight to Tokyo as we put in place our strategy to the 2020 Olympic Games,” explained Furniss.
“It will be good for this squad to go in year one of the cycle. It will build experience and awareness, and the calendar allows it this year. 2018 will be different as we have the Commonwealth Games in Australia and European Championships in Glasgow to look forward to but we’re already exploring the possibility of returning in 2019.
“Tokyo is going to be a very tough meet and a good standard of competition. Japan is using it to top up its World Championship team so it’s going to be a stern test for all involved.
“At the end of June we will team up again for the Seven Hills Meet in Rome. The event stands out due its high standard and the timing for us is perfect as it gives is a good period of time before we meet up for the World Championship holding camp in Edinburgh.”