Aussie swimwear label Funkita is celebrating after four of their British F-Team swimmers were announced on Team GB for Rio and another three rising stars named on the Target Tokyo squad. Aimee Willmott, Molly Renshaw, Ellie Faulkner and Georgia Coates were named on the 26-strong Team GB for the Olympics after the British Swimming Championships in Glasgow.
Aimee Willmott qualified for her second Olympics after she claimed silver in the 400m IM with a 4.35.52. Having made her debut at the London Olympics where she narrowly missed a finals swim, Aimee is determined to go one better in Rio. The 23-year-old, whose dad Stuart competed at the 1984 Olympics in the 1500m freestyle and 400m IM, coached Aimee for a number of years before she moved to the London Aquatics Centre squad.
Molly Renshaw swam a strong 2.23.56 in her 200m breaststroke to claim silver behind Chloe Tutton and, was once again in the hands of the national selectors to decide her fate after swimming a time within ‘consideration’. Her selection was a vindication for Molly after the devastation of narrowly missing a home Olympics four years earlier. The then 16 year-old had won the national titles but only swam the qualifying time in one of the two national championships and was left off the team. Molly used the setback as motivation to knock 3 seconds off her PB and is ecstatic to be on the plane to Rio.
Meanwhile City of Sheffield swimmer Ellie Faulkner swam a 1.58.05 in the 200m freestyle closely followed by fellow F-Team swimmer Georgia Coates in 1.58.54 to claim the silver and bronze respectively and earn their spots on the team. Ellie swam the 800 freestyle in the London Olympics so will be making her second Olympics appearance, but this time swimming a quarter of the distance. Georgia has topped of an incredible year with her selection on the team after medals at World Junior Championships and the European Championships. The 17-year-old from the City of Leeds Swimming Club is the youngest member of the team.
Young guns Georgina Boyle, Katie Matts and Abbie Wood were also announced on the Target Tokyo squad with strong swims setting them up for national team selection beyond Rio.
All the girls are swimming at European Championships in London with the swimming starting on May 16.
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Swimming News is courtesy of Funky Trunks, a SwimSwam ad partner.