British Swimming has been announced the squad to face Europe’s elite at the IPC Swimming European Championships in Berlin 3rd to 10th July at the Swimming and Diving Centre in Europasportpark (SSE) *
Ellie Simmonds
The 43-strong British contingent includes double Paralympic Champion Eleanor Simmonds. The IPC Swimming European Championships, which runs from 3rd – 10th July at the SSE , will be the last benchmark meet for the athletes before the 2012 Paralympic Games. All the Brits will be looking to put a marker down before competing in front of their home crowd just a year later.
Ellie powering it
National Performance Director John Atkinson, who has been in charge of the programme for just under a year, believes his athletes have what it takes to impress in Berlin.
“The selection policy has allowed us to take a strong team of athletes that have the potential to improve on their times from Sheffield and make a mark in Berlin,” Atkinson said.
“For any team the aim is to improve from the trial event to the major meet of the year. I believe that if the swimmers work hard in their training and achieve improvements then they will put themselves in a good place for success at the European Championships.”
(A pair of TeamBath Paralympians have been selected to represent Great Britain at the IPC Swimming European Championships in Berlin this summer. Kate Grey and Liz Johnson are both named in the GB team for the championships, which take place from 3-10 July. Liz won gold in the SB6 100m breaststroke at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. Kate, a University of Bath Coach Education and Sports Development graduate, also competed in Beijing and was voted the University of Personality of the Year just under a year ago. The pair are both coached by Mark Skimming, head swimming coach at the University of Bath.
GB Swimming website > BRITISH SWIMMING
The GB women’s squad consists of:
Gemma Almond
Claire Cashmore
Emma Cattle
Heather Frederiksen
Kate Grey
Rhiannon Henry
Charlotte Henshaw
Lauren Hobbins
Emma Hollis
Elizabeth Johnson
Natalie Jones
Harriet Lee
Nicole Lough
Natalie Massey
Stephanie Millward
Susannah Rodgers
Hannah Russell
Eleanor Simmonds
Lauren Steadman
Louise Watkin
Fran Williamson
Berlin Venue information
Built in the early 1990s as a part of Berlin`s Olympic bid, the SSE is now the largest and the only fully accessible indoor swimming competition venue in Berlin. Since the venue was designed and built as a competition swimming pool, it is suitable, like no other for hosting top-class championships.
Since the opening of the hall, in 1999, many national and international swimming and diving competitions have been held there. The International German Swimming Championship for people with a disability was held there 10 times. The water is well known for being one of the fastest in the world.
In addition to the 50m competition pool (10 lanes), the hall has a diving board with a 25m pool, a 50m training pool with another ten lanes plus a pool for non swimmers and for therapeutic interventions.
