Angharad Evans On Returning To The Pool After 18 Months In USA & Stirling Teaching Chemistry As British Champs Loom Giant
Within the second of two articles, Angharad Evans talks to Swimming World about getting back from the College of Georgia, her coaches at Stirling and the inspiration of her teammates
Angharad Evans heads to the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships jostling on the higher finish of the 100m breaststroke rankings however she might have been misplaced to the game following a spell in america.
Intrigued by the enchantment of residing and competing within the USA and with an American mom which means there was much less purple tape to navigate, Evans headed to the College of Georgia in autumn 2021.
Nonetheless, the coaching regime was heavy on quantity which didn’t swimsuit her and Evans would typically fall sick or come down with damage. She stopped coaching after a 12 months and focused on her research however after six months Evans determined to return to Britain, a bit of homesick and feeling she had extra to offer within the pool.
Angharad Evans: Picture Courtesy: Aquatics GB
She selected to proceed her profession on the College of Stirling underneath the stewardship of Brad Hay and Steven Tigg whereas additionally learning for a level in enterprise research and administration.
Since returning to coaching on the finish of January 2023, Evans has turn out to be the primary British girl inside 1:06 for the 100m breaststroke and an Olympic finalist on her senior worldwide debut.
Nevertheless it might have been very totally different had she chosen to not proceed following her time within the USA.
Talking to Swimming World, Evans stated: “Typically I do sit down and simply take into consideration the journey I’ve been on and there’s so many ‘what ifs’ and ‘this might have occurred’ however I do consider that all the things occurs for a cause. I realized rather a lot from my time at Georgia, I realized rather a lot from taking time without work. I simply really feel like after I got here again to the game I knew I wished to be in it, I knew I had extra to offer and I wished make one thing of it which is why my mindset was fully set after I moved again to the UK.”
Swift Progress, Paris 2024 & Stirling Coaches
Following her return to the coaching pool, Evans completed third within the 50 and 100m breaststroke on the trials for the 2023 World Championships.
She made enormous progress within the following months and into 2024. She arrived on the Olympic trials on the again of a 1:06.25 100br effort on the Edinburgh Worldwide Meet the earlier month, simply 0.04 shy of Molly Renshaw’s nationwide report of 1:06.21.
Whereas her successful time of 1:06.54 in London was exterior the ‘A’ minimize for Paris, Evans was chosen for Staff GB. She returned to the Aquatics Centre the next month for the AP Race Worldwide the place she dismantled the British 100 report in 1:05.54, slicing a 0.67 chunk from Renshaw’s normal.
Evans made one other journey inside 1:06 in 1:05.91 on the Sette Colli meet in Rome in June earlier than she arrived within the French capital for her senior worldwide debut.
She navigated the prelims and semis earlier than ending sixth in 1:05.85, a advantageous final 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.
l-r: Abbie Wooden, Angharad Evans, Eva Okaro & Freya Anderson: Picture Courtesy: Aquatics GB
Evans used it as motivation, declaring herself “proud however by no means glad” earlier than concluding the 12 months on the World Brief-Course Championships in Budapest. There she set one other British report of 1:03.45 within the 100m breaststroke prelims earlier than occurring to complete seventh within the remaining in addition to eighth over 200m. She joined forces with Abbie Wooden, Eva Okaro and Freya Anderson for the ladies’s medley relay because the quartet gained silver in one other nationwide mark of three:47.84.
It had been a 12 months through which Evans introduced herself on the worldwide stage.
Some changes have been made with Tigg leaving Stirling to take up the function of Aquatics GB head coach following the retirement of Invoice Furniss.
He in flip was changed by Ben Higson who returned to Stirling after seven years away working with Swim Eire and the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS).
The steadiness and chemistry have been proper for Evans to take pleasure in a profitable coach-athlete partnership with Hay and Higson each serving to her handle her intense pre-race nerves.
“I’m very lucky to have a coach like Brad,” she stated. “It was simply an on the spot connection and immediately we constructed that belief. And with out that belief the coach would discover it laborious to belief you and also you’d discover it laborious to belief the coach. It simply makes it simpler when coaching modifications and if I didn’t have that coach relationship then I’d begin to query the coaching that I’m doing. Particularly when you might have unhealthy meets early on within the 12 months which is totally regular for January, February.”
She added: “I might say Brad is extra of a relaxed coach and Ben got here in and was fairly the other to Brad, reverse to what we have been used to. However in a short time I actually loved that form of coaching model as a result of you might have the relaxed teaching model of Brad however then additionally the teaching model of Ben. Having contemporary eyes in your stroke and the 2 of them collectively can be a match made in heaven and I’ve actually been having fun with coaching since Ben received right here as properly.
“With Steve leaving, it was good to have the consistency of Brad being there – the coach that received me to the Olympics, the coach that received me all these time drops then additionally having a contemporary set of eyes on my stroke.”
Ripples In The Water In 2025
Evans has already made waves in 2025. She gained the breaststroke treble on the BUCS Championships in Sheffield with occasions of 30.98, 1:06.02 and a couple of:22.64, a PB of virtually three seconds that elevated her to fifth British performer all-time.
She adopted that up with 1:06.32 within the 100 and a couple of:23.80 over 200m on the Edinburgh Worldwide Meet final month.
Now all eyes are on the British Championships on the Aquatic Centre subsequent week with the six-day meet – which doubles as trials for the World Championships in Singapore in July – operating from 15-20 April. There Evans must get contained in the minimize of 1:06.31 (100m) and a couple of:23.04 (200m) whereas ending within the high two in every race.
Duncan Scott: Picture Courtesy: Deepbluemedia
She’ll be a part of an intensive Stirling squad that accommodates the likes of eight-time Olympic medallist Duncan Scott, Tokyo combined relay champions Kathleen Dawson and Freya Anderson, Jack McMillan and Katie Shanahan.
It’s a supply of inspiration for Evans.
“It’s not like something I’ve ever had earlier than,” she stated. “My coaching membership at dwelling at West Sussex was very small and Georgia was cut up into teams. To have individuals on the identical wavelength as you which are as hungry as you in coaching, you simply bounce off one another and also you push one another. You assist one another in coaching if you see that somebody is falling behind, you assist them get to the tip of the set, verbally cheering them on.
“And I simply assume if I’m having a tough set the place it’s been an extended week, an extended block of coaching and I see my teammates working as laborious as they’ll, it makes you need to work as laborious as you possibly can. Not only for you however for them as properly and in addition for the coach that you’ve a powerful relationship with, it truly is only a crew surroundings the place you need to carry out your greatest and work your greatest for them and your self.”
Qualification For World Championships, Singapore
Choice for the World Championships, which run from 27 July to three August in Singapore, can be primarily based on performances on the Paris Olympics and the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in London.
Swimmers who gained a medal in a person occasion at Paris 2024 can be chosen to the Nice Britain crew for this occasion in Singapore.
Particular person medallists in Paris have been Adam Peaty (silver, 100m breaststroke), Ben Proud (silver, 50m freestyle), Matt Richards (silver, 200m freestyle) and Duncan Scott (silver, 200IM). Peaty gained’t be competing in London as he takes a break from competitors though he confirmed on Wednesday that he’s set for a tilt at his fourth Olympics after the IOC confirmed the inclusion of the 50m breaststroke at LA2028.
Relay medallists can be chosen topic to affirmation by the Nice Britain head coach, Steve Tigg. The lads’s 4×2 free quartet claimed an historic gold as they defended their title from Tokyo with Tom Dean and James Man becoming a member of Richards and Scott.
To qualify for worlds, a swimmer should end first in an Olympic occasion and report a time that equals or betters these within the desk beneath.
Athletes that end second in a time equal or higher than that within the desk can be thought-about for choice to a crew that may have a most of 30 athletes.
