WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
BBC host HELEN SKELTON predicts a top week for Britain’s swimming stars
HELEN SKELTON joins
Mark Foster and Rebecca Adlington to cover the World Aquatics Championships from Budapest. Britain’s top swimmers will be in action, up against the likes of US superstar Katie Ledecky.
We asked Skelton to select her UK medal contenders…
ADAM PEATY
The world record holder will defend his
100m and
50m world titles a year after becoming the first male British swimmer to win an Olympic title in 24 years. He’s one of several Rio medallists in the British team, and our best bet for gold. Adam is very confident, but has the skills and class to back it up. This season he’s been working on his starting dive and has come close to his two world records. He’s said he wants to achieve legendary status by smashing his current times of 57.13 and 26.42 seconds.
SIOBHAN-MARIE O’CONNOR
I’m looking forward to a rematch between
Siobhan and
Hungary’s
Katinka Hosszú in the 200m individual medley. Katinka set an Olympic record while winning gold in Rio and Siobhan broke the British record to take silver, just 0.3 seconds behind. I expect a great battle, with the home crowd cheering on Katinka, who is a superstar in Hungary. Siobhan is a real role model after overcoming ulcerative colitis and speaking openly about it.
LUKE GREENBANK
Luke came to everyone’s attention after winning gold and bronze at the
2014 Youth
Olympics. The teenager from Cumbria is now targeting backstroke success at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and we’ll get a good idea of how he is progressing this week. So far, everything has been going really well. He’s training with Adam Peaty’s coach Mel Marshall and having a good season.
JAMES GUY
James burst onto the scene at the last World Championships in 2015 when nobody expected him to win the 200m freestyle, while he also helped Britain to gold in the relay. He finished fourth in the 200m in Rio, and he will have learned that he cannot be complacent.