Angharad Evans Talks Paris Olympics, World Silverware & Hitting Her Stride In 2025
Within the first of two articles, Angharad Evans talks to Swimming World about Paris 2024, World Championship silver and her nice type in 2025
Angharad Evans has hit the bottom working as she continues the shape that guided her to an Olympic closing, World Championship silverware and British data final yr.
The College of Stirling swimmer received the breaststroke treble on the latest BUCS Championships, getting her marketing campaign underway with a 30.98 win within the 50.
She adopted that up with 1:06.02 within the 100, the fifth-fastest efficiency within the all-time nationwide rankings topped by her 1:05.54 British report and a time solely she has bettered amongst home swimmers.
Evans introduced her particular person programme to a detailed with a 2:22.64 victory over 200m as she sliced nearly three seconds off her PB to raise herself to fifth-fastest British performer.
Angharad Evans: Picture Courtesy: Aquatics GB
She returned to the pool for the ultimate time within the ladies’s medley relay the place she posted the quickest breaststroke break up in British historical past of 1:05.14 as Stirling received the title.
Whereas her 200 exceeded any expectations – “a three-second PB was not on my radar” – Evans had blended emotions about her efficiency within the 100m.
The 21-year-old struggles with nerves earlier than the two-length race, getting butterflies and over-thinking “small issues.”
She’s labored on managing them and utilizing them to her benefit and in Sheffield Evans additionally turned to Ben Higson, who was appointed Stirling head coach after Steve Tigg took up the position of Aquatics GB head coach.
“One factor about me is that I get so nervous for that as a result of it’s my primary occasion and the 200 I can simply let unfastened a bit and play with my ways going into the race,” she informed Swimming World.
“I wasn’t absolutely proud of the 100 within the closing, I simply really feel like there was extra work to be completed, extra issues I may’ve modified in order that set me up for the 200 and I knew precisely what I wished to do and I simply wished to place in one of the best race I can in February main into trials.”
With achievement comes elevated self-expectation with the World Championships in Singapore a bit over 5 months away ought to the British trials in April be safely navigated.
There have been three World Championships in as a few years – together with one within the February of Olympic yr – with excessive 1:05s/low 1:06s sufficient to safe a 100 medal and occasions starting from 2:21.63 to 2:23.20 enough for bronze within the longer race.
Evans is already properly inside that realm and has her sights set on one other massive drop within the 200.
“Even now that I’ve simply swum a 2:22 I’m considering how do I’m going sub-2:20? And that’s simply the mindset that you need to have, you need to adapt and hold pushing ahead as your efficiency will get higher.
“I don’t need to be caught on 1:06s for 100 breaststroke – how can I get to 1:05s low? How can I get to 1:04s from a relay takeover?
“And it’s simply specializing in all of the small particulars like your angle whenever you dive in, your head whenever you flip, it’s attending to that time the place you need to concentrate on all of the small issues that within the greater image is the place the three-second time drops come from.”
Paris 2024 & ‘Staying Proud However By no means Glad’
Evans claimed her first British crown on the nationwide championships in April 2024 and though her profitable time was outdoors the minimize, she was chosen as a discretionary choose for Paris.
She swam her method into the British report books the next months when she rocketed to 1:05.54 within the 100m breaststroke on the AP Race Worldwide in London.
With that, she sliced 0.67 from the earlier normal of 1:06.21 that had stood to Molly Renshaw because the European Championships in 2021 as she lowered her PB by 0.71secs.
She adopted that up with one other journey inside 1:06 on the Sette Colli in Rome for second in 1:05.91 as Benedetta Pilato set an Italian report of 1:05.44.
Evans arrived in Paris little greater than a month later as she ready to make her senior worldwide debut within the cauldron of La Défense Enviornment.
Steven Tigg: Picture Courtesy: Ian MacNicol, Scottish Swimming
Whereas there was pleasure at sharing a name room with the likes of Lilly King and Ruta Meilutyte – the 2016 and 2012 Olympic 100br champions – Evans credit Stirling coaches Brad Hay and Steve Tigg with serving to her block out the noise.
“Brad would examine in however I additionally constructed a relationship with Steve that a part of the season as properly as a result of I went to Sette Colli with him,” she mentioned. “That’s after I’d open up with the coaches and say I’m fairly anxious for this race after which we’d discuss by means of the season that I’d had – you’ve made it this far, it’s not a coincidence that you just’re right here.
“I trusted the coaching that I did – it was a really laborious block of coaching – and I believe that’s what mentally helped me. I knew I’d put every thing into the coaching, every thing out of the pool – diet, sleep, I did every thing I may to set myself up for this debut swim internationally that I may.”
Evans progressed twelfth by means of the prelims earlier than 1:05.99 within the semis positioned her sixth into the ultimate because the likes of Meilutyte and world silver medallist Tes Schouten missed out.
Tang Qianting was properly clear at midway in 29.94 adopted by Mona McSharry (30.56) with Evans third in 30.61 as 0.13 separated second to fifth.
Tatjana Smith got here by means of on the second 50 to improve Tokyo silver to Paris gold with the South African adopted residence by Tang (1:05.54) and McSharry who claimed bronze in 1:05.59.
Evans was sixth in 1:05.85, a nice end result on her Video games debut however one which was tinged with some disappointment within the months following Paris given she was simply 0.26 off a medal.
Whereas recognising what she completed within the French capital, Evans has used it as motivation.
“I positively have a look at it as an achievement however I believe each swimmer has such a important mindset and also you’re at all times going to be like – what if I did this in another way? What if I did that?
“However that very same mindset is what’s holding me hungry now, I need extra, I need worldwide medals, I need to not come sixth within the closing.
“I respect it and one quote that I stand by is ‘Keep proud however by no means glad’ and that’s how I have a look at that swim on the Olympics.”
Silverware & Data In Budapest
Evans travelled to Budapest for the short-course worlds in December the place she quickly tore into the British report books as soon as once more.
First up on the Duna Enviornment was the 100m breaststroke the place she headed the prelims in 1:03.45 to chop nearly a second from Renshaw’s nationwide mark of 1:04.37 from December 2021.
Evans went on to complete seventh within the closing (1:04.08) in addition to eighth over 200 (2:18.77) and twelfth within the 50 (29.95).
l-r: Abbie Wooden, Angharad Evans, Eva Okaro & Freya Anderson: Picture Courtesy: Aquatics GB
She joined forces with Abbie Wooden, Eva Okaro and Freya Anderson for the ladies’s medley relay because the quartet went 3:50.20 for a nationwide report and fourth place in prelims.
Come the ultimate and the quartet had been led off by double IM bronze medallist Wooden in 57.44 with Evans splitting 1:03.18 at hand over in third to Eva Okaro, who’d set a world junior 50 free report of 23.66 lower than 90 minutes earlier.
Okaro break up 56.11 earlier than a thundering 51.11 anchor leg by Anderson propelled the Nice Britain staff previous China and into silver medal place in 3:47.84 for an additional nationwide report because the USA set a WR of three:40.41 for gold.
“It was such a particular second,” mentioned Evans. “Us 4 women have very completely different backgrounds. We now have Eva – the world junior report holder from earlier that night time – we have now Abbie, a double Olympian.
“There was simply such a combination of expertise and we weren’t going into it with any expectations.
“Abbie isn’t a backstroker, Eva doesn’t normally swim the 100 fly so we had been like let’s simply have enjoyable with it and see the place it will get us.
“We carried out one of the best that we probably may: no-one was going to beat America and that was details on paper. So, in our eyes we received!”
