A total of 85 swimmers have been named in Swim England's long list ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

They include members of the Swim England National Performance Squad as well as English Swimmers that are named on British Swimming’s and British Para-swimming’s World Class programme.

All will be part of the new ‘exciting identity’ that’s been created in the run up to the ‘exhilarating experience’ of a home Commonwealth Games.

It is a larger-than-normal team which aims to bring together everyone who will be considered for selection for Team England at the Commonwealth Games next year.

Grant Robins, Swim England head of talent – swimming and also the team leader for the swimming team at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, congratulated all those that had been selected – but insisted it didn’t mean others wouldn’t get an opportunity to earn a place in the team over the coming months.

Selections for the Swim England National Performance Squad swimmers included were based on performances that have been recorded that show potential to win medals in Birmingham either as an individual or as part of a relay team.

Some swimmers have also been selected that have shown an outstanding performance curve that will also have an impact on selections for Paris in 2024.

Real team unity

Grant said: “We’d like to offer our congratulations to everyone who has been named in the first England Swimming Team – we hope it will lead to a real team unity that will deliver the best games ever.

“Obviously there is still some time until the Commonwealth Games and there will be a selection policy that gives a period for performances once we are back in the pool for swimmers to demonstrate their potential.”

All the athletes on the World Class Programme will still be managed by British Swimming but, in the run-up to the Games, will be involved in England Swimming Team camps and competitions in preparation for the Games.

The swimmers chosen for the National Performance Squad will also attend a number of other Swim England-run camps and have individual training plans prepared for them to help their development and, hopefully, their qualification for Birmingham.

You can see the full list of athletes here.

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