Falkirk four plan to take the plunge at Tollcross

Local swimmers from Falkirk Integrated Regional Swim Team (FIRST) are set to compete against Britain's finest swimmers at the forthcoming British Swimming Championships 2016 being hosted at Scotland's very own Commonwealth pool at Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow between 12 '“ 17 April.
Left to right: Marc Elrick; Callum Lawrie; Chanel Sneddon & Ryan Retson.Left to right: Marc Elrick; Callum Lawrie; Chanel Sneddon & Ryan Retson.
Left to right: Marc Elrick; Callum Lawrie; Chanel Sneddon & Ryan Retson.

The elite within British Swimming, such as Adam Peaty alongside Scotland’s Commonwealth heroes Hannah Miley and Ross Murdoch, shall be converging to compete within the Championships that are acting as the Olympic qualifying trials for Rio 2016.

Four FIRST swimmers have been successful in achieving qualifying times for the Championships: Callum Lawrie (17), competing in the 200m IM, 400m IM, 200m breaststroke & 200m butterfly; Ryan Retson (15) in the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, and 200m IM; Marc Elrick (16) going in the 200m butterfly; and Chanel Sneddon (16) competing in the 200m IM, 400m IM and 200m breaststroke.

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These swimmers have already demonstrated their ability in achieving qualification to these Championships and shall seek to improve upon their entry times. It’s not only places onto the Olympic team that are up for grabs, but the Championships are also acting as the selection process for the European Junior Championships being held in Hungary in July for swimmers born between 1998-2002, and also to allow competitors to be identified for GB consideration onto the World Class Target Tokyo programme for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

FIRST Head Coach, Monica Borland said: ”It is testament to the swimmers commitment to their training programmes and application to achieve qualification to this national event, and outstanding for F.I.R.S.T. to be well represented given the relatively small scale of our swim programme.”

The four swimmers have obtained their qualification times from various national level competitions throughout the year and are all currently placed on various Scottish Swimming programme teams with the support of sportScotland.