An exciting summer of aquatics action is done and dusted – and attention now turns to Birmingham for British Swimming: The Awards 2023, with winners set to be crowned on Saturday (16th September).
With 14 awards up for grabs across the evening, athletes,
coaches and support staff from across the organisation and beyond will come
together to celebrate these achievements and memorable moments from a 2023 that featured a home Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, a packed World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, the European Games and multiple major junior events, as the
Paralympic and Olympic year of 2024 beckons.
With Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year awards up for grabs across five aquatic disciplines, the Emerging Athlete of the Year award will cap the successes of those athletes tipped for big things in the future across diving, para-swimming and swimming.
The Maurice Watkins Champion Athlete Award – named in memory of our late Chair – will also be presented on the night to the overall Athlete of the Year winner.
Tom Dean, who was the winner of that award last year, is back on the nominee list for the Swimming Athlete of the Year, alongside Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott, with the trio taking a total of 10 medals between them at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka – including all three playing their part in a triumphant gold for the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay.
The three nominees for Diving Athlete of the Year all enjoyed silver synchro success at the same championships, with Anthony Harding, Lois Toulson and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix all looking to win the award for the first time after a historic year for British Diving that saw three medals and eight Olympic quota spots secured at the World Champs.
Last year’s winner of the Para-Swimming Athlete of The Year, Maisie Summers-Newton, is also on the shortlist this time around, after clinching three medals at the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester – including the defence of two world titles. She is joined on that nominee list by Ellie Challis – winner of six medals in Manchester - and Stephen Clegg, who added to his list of Worlds medals again this year.
Isabelle Thorpe and Kate Shortman jointly took the Athlete of the Year award for artistic swimming in 2021-22, and the pair are also nominees for the award in 2023. Completing the trio of artistic nominees is Ranjuo Tomblin, who was the first British male artistic swimmer to win an international medal at the European Games in June.
In a year where Great Britain’s senior women’s water polo team qualified for the European Championships for the first time in close to a decade, Kathy Rogers and last year’s winner of the Water Polo Athlete of the Year Lily Turner are named in the shortlist for the award, with senior men’s goalkeeper Thomas Manley also named as a nominee.
There has been no shortage of success on the coaching front, either, with Aled Davies, Andy Sharp and Mat Trodden named as nominees for the Para-Swimming Coach of the Year following their respective athletes’ triumphs at the World Championships, while Adam Smallwood, Alex Rochas and Jane Figueiredo are the ones in with a chance of winning the Diving Coach of the Year award for diving for the same reason. Adam, Alex and Jane all watched their divers step on to a podium in Fukuoka across a memorable meet.
Last year’s Swimming Coach of the Year David McNulty is back amongst the nominations, with Steven Tigg and Ryan Livingstone joining him after their swimmers provided the lion’s share of swimming medals at the World Championships this year.
Nick Buller gets his nomination for Water Polo Coach of the Year as he led that senior women’s team to European qualification, with Alastair Roberts and Sarah Dunsbee also nominated for their efforts with their respective groups.
Paola Basso has won the Artistic Swimming Coach of the Year award in each of the previous three editions of the awards, and she lines up as a nominee again, alongside Yumiko Tomomatsu and Karen Thorpe, following a truly historic year for the sport in this country.
The Emerging Athlete of the Year recognises those who have had considerable success at junior level this year. Matthew Ward, Skye Carter and Phoebe Cooper are nominated for the swimming discipline thanks to impressive performances over the European Junior Championships, Commonwealth Youth Games and European Youth Olympic Festival this summer.
The diving nominees for the award are based on performances across a number of competitions, with Robbie Lee making the shortlist thanks to medals at senior and junior level, Jorden Fisher-Eames for winning junior medals at European and world level, and Oliver Heath for taking two European junior medals in his debut season.
William Ellard, Faye Rogers and Rhys Darbey are the final nominees to mention, as they secured seven medals between them at what was all of their debut Para Swimming World Championships, deservedly earning their places in the running for the Para-Swimming Emerging Athlete of the Year prize.
Click here to read more about the nominees and the evening as a whole. Make sure to follow our Instagram and X (Twitter) pages to find out all the award winners as they are announced on the night.
BRITISH SWIMMING: THE AWARDS, PREVIOUS WINNERS:
MAURICE WATKINS CHAMPION ATHLETE AWARD
Tom Daley – 2015
Adam Peaty – 2016
Adam Peaty – 2017
Jack Laugher – 2018
Alice Tai – 2019
Tom Dean – 2021-22
DIVING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Tom Daley – 2015
Jack Laugher – 2016
Tom Daley – 2017
Jack Laugher – 2018
Jack Laugher – 2019
Tom Daley – 2021-22
PARA-SWIMMING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Jessica-Jane Applegate – 2015
Bethany Firth – 2016
Andrew Mullen – 2017
Tom Hamer – 2018
Alice Tai – 2019
Maisie Summers-Newton – 2021-22
SWIMMING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Adam Peaty – 2015
Adam Peaty – 2016
Adam Peaty – 2017
Duncan Scott – 2018
Adam Peaty – 2019
Tom Dean – 2021-22
ARTISTIC SWIMMING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe – 2018
Kate Shortman – 2019
Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe – 2021-22
WATER POLO ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Stephanie Whittaker and Matthias Madden – 2018
Lily Turner and Charlie Brogan – 2019
Lily Turner – 2021-22
DIVING EMERGING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Lois Toulson – 2015
Victoria Vincent – 2016
Phoebe Banks and Ruby Bower – 2017
Lucas Thomson – 2018
Anthony Harding – 2019
Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix – 2021-22
PARA-SWIMMING EMERGING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Tully Kearney – 2015
Ellie Robinson – 2016
Maisie Summers-Newton – 2017
Toni Shaw – 2018
Louis Lawlor – 2019
Poppy Maskill – 2021-22
SWIMMING EMERGING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Duncan Scott – 2015
Freya Anderson – 2016
Emily Large – 2017
Tom Dean – 2018
Kayla Van der Merwe – 2019
Katie Shanahan – 2021-22
DIVING COACH OF THE YEAR
Adrian Hinchcliffe – 2015
Adrian Hinchcliffe – 2016
Jane Figueiredo – 2017
Alex Rochas – 2018
Adam Smallwood – 2019
Adam Smallwood – 2021-22
PARA-SWIMMING COACH OF THE YEAR
Glenn Smith – 2015
Danny Thompson – 2016
Alex Pinniger – 2017
Jacquie Marshall – 2018
Jacquie Marshall – 2019
Robin Armayan – 2021-22
SWIMMING COACH OF THE YEAR
Mel Marshall – 2015
Mel Marshall – 2016
Mel Marshall – 2017
Steven Tigg – 2018
Mel Marshall – 2019
David McNulty – 2021-22
ARTISTIC SWIMMING COACH OF THE YEAR
Katie Chapman – 2016
Paola Basso – 2018
Paola Basso – 2019
Paola Basso – 2021-22
WATER POLO COACH OF THE YEAR
Andy McGinty – 2016
Nick Hume – 2018
Phil Powell – 2019
Theo Nousios – 2021-22