Mullen and Quin Named on Strong British Team for IPC Worlds

“I am delighted for Andrew and Scott after the excellent work they have been putting in over the last three or four years." Paul Wilson, Disability Performance Development Manager

Scottish swimmers Andrew Mullen and Scott Quin have been named as part of the 18-strong British contingent to face the rest of the world at the IPC Swimming World Championships from 13 – 19 July in Glasgow.

At last week’s British Para Swimming International Meet, Mullen (Ren 96) broke his own European Record twice on this way to victory in the 50m fly, the event he won gold in at last year’s IPC Swimming European Championships. Mullen went onto win a further three gold medals in Eindhoven and is looking forward to competing in his home patch. He said:

“Tollcross is the pool I learned to swim in so there’s real sentimental value attached to it. The fact it’s the World Championships provides a great opportunity to race against the best swimmers around.

“As a local lad I witnessed the support the home athletes got last year and if we can get anywhere near that the atmosphere at Tollcross will be phenomenal.

“In terms of my own aspirations I was really happy with how I did at Euros. If I can go faster this summer and grab some of those medals, I will be really pleased.”

Scott Quin secured his place on the team on the opening night of the British Para Swimming International Meet with victory in the 100m breaststroke

The S14 athlete from Warrender Baths Club swam under the IPC Swimming World Championships qualification time twice through the day and won the gold medal with a time of 1:07.53 and a total of 963 points. His heat time of 1:07.45 was a British Record.

Quin won the silver medal in this event in Eindhoven at last year’s IPC European Championships and is pleased with his current form,

“I was a bit surprised how I swam at the trials. I got a bit of a shock with my time, but it’s been working really well in training so I was on form for a good swim.

“My focus for the finals has been to relax. I get quite tense in the morning heats so I’ve been working with my coach to relax ahead of the finals and enjoy it.

“To hit the time and have the World Championships here in July is pretty insane. I can’t wait.”

Quin will have former breaststroke World Short Course Champion, Kris Gilchrist, close to hand, with Gilchrist being named as part of the coaching team.

Paul Wilson, Disability Performance Development Manager of Scottish Swimming, was at Tollcross during the trials and said,

“I am delighted for Andrew and Scott after the excellent work they have been putting in over the last three or four years.

“I am confident they will continue to apply themselves during the lead up to Glasgow 2015.”

National Performance Director Chris Furber believes this team will have the potential to produce results under pressure in Glasgow.

“The team we have selected is strong and reflects the goal of the competition which is to win gold medals and qualifying slots for Rio.

“There were some really excellent performances last week in Glasgow and I know the athletes have gone back to their home programmes to continue to work hard as we move closer to the Worlds.

“The expectation is that the standard of Para-Swimming in the lead up to Rio is only going to improve exponentially and we have based our standards this year on this which is why we have a smaller team than previously in this cycle.

“Having a smaller team allows us to give focused and individually tailored support to swimmers who have demonstrated gold or multi-medal potential.”

Head Coach Rob Greenwood added: “As British Para-Swimming we are in a great place on the coaching front. It was fantastic to see so many of our top coaches at last week’s trials but it did make the process of coach selection a difficult one. 

“The coaches selected offer a great variety of experiences, knowledge and personality all adding to the dynamic of the team. I'm sure the coaching team in Glasgow will help our athletes deliver their peak performance."

The IPC Swimming World Championships will take place at Glasgow’s Tollcross International Swimming Centre from 13-19 July.

Across the seven days of competition there will be 172 medals up for grabs with athletes competing in freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, individual medley, freestyle relay and medley relay across 14 different classes, with distances ranging from 50m-400m.

Tickets are now available via www.ticketmaster.co.uk/Glasgow2015 

Prices are £10/£15 for Adults for Heats/Finals, while all Under-16s go free (t&c’s apply).

 

-ENDS-

The British Para-Swimming Team consists of:         

James Crisp - City of Sheffield         

Jonathan Fox - City of Manchester Aquatics

Thomas Hamer - City of Manchester Aquatics/National Performance Centre

Oliver Hynd - Nova Centurion           

Sascha Kindred - Leominster

Andrew Mullen - Ren 96     

Scott Quin - Warrender Baths Club          

Jack Thomas - Swansea University 

Jessica-Jane Applegate - UEA Norwich       

Claire Cashmore - Wyre Forest SC/ National Performance Centre            

Bethany Firth - Ards SC        

Charlotte Henshaw - Nova Centurion           

Tully Kearney (R) - Boldmere           

Susannah  Rodgers (R) - Beckenham          

Hannah Russell - Woking/National Performance Centre     

Eleanor Simmonds - Loughborough University

Stephanie Slater - Preston SC/National Performance Centre          

Alice Tai - Bournemouth Collegiate School   

 

The Coaches selected for the IPC Swimming World Championship team are:       

Rob Greenwood - British Para-Swimming Head Coach

Rob Aubry - British Para-Swimming National Coach

Steve Bayley - Loughborough University

Kris Gilchrist - Warrender Baths Club

Mark Rose - City of Manchester Aquatics

Graeme Smith - British Para-Swimming National Coach