For three years James Guy has continued to improve. Since making his first World Championships appearance in Barcelona where he placed fifth in the 400m freestyle his journey has only got better. The best example has been his improvements in the 400m freestyle where he swam a 3.47 in 2013 compared to his 3.44.16 winning time at the British Championships in April.
Moreover, in the last two years he has gone on to win numerous British titles in the 200 and 400m freestyle disciplines, the bronze medal in the 400m at the commonwealth games and the silver at the recent 2014 World short course championships in Doha.
The outcome of these results has left Guy in high spirits ahead of Kazan where he will be looking to earn his first long course major medal. This will require his full potential as the 400m freestyle, his best chance, is a stacked field, even with the absences of Park Tae Hwan and Kosuke Hagino.
Guy, however , believes he has put in the work to have a stake for a podium position in Kazan saying, Training has been going really well and ahead of Russia I am in a very good place right now and I feel happy”.
Guy also recognizes that whilst the World Championships is a major step to proving himself at an international level, the ultimate focus will be for 2016 at the Rio Olympics. Guy will be hoping to build from commonwealth success last year to World success this year before hopefully Olympic success.
Guy added “This year is all about putting in the hard work now so I can just tweak for next year. Hopefully I can have a good summer and build on it to get to Brazil.”
Finally, it will be interesting if Guy attempts to make the Olympic team in the 200m butterfly after swimming a 1.57 at the Scottish Championships in June 2015. Britain seem to lack a 200m butterfly star at the moment with no representative in Kazan and Guy’s time of 1.57 was done unrested and unshaved which could be interesting signs for the year to come.
Quotes courtesy of British Swimming.
I think he’ll win the 400 on Day 1
Guy is a huge talent. His stroke is oh so pleasing on the eye. I would love to see him sneak under 3:43, which will put him in a fine position for a medal. Hagino is a big loss to the event, but Park is irrelevant. He is off the juice and off the boil.