Alice Tai awarded British Swimming Athlete of the Year
|
12 November 2019 |
Alice Tai from Ealing SC has won Para Swimmer of the year at
the recent British Swimming Awards presentation evening and
also won the Ultimate top award as
British Swimming Athlete of the Year - the first time a
Para-swimmer has won this award.
This is also the first time a London Region swimmer has won
this prestigious award from Sports’ governing body. Well done
Alice and her coach, Dave Heathcock, ESC’s head
coach.
Alice Tai saw off her
competition to claim the overall British Swimming Athlete of the
Year crown, receiving a standing ovation from a full house in
Leicester.
After winning the
Para-Swimming Athlete of the Year award, Tai was up against the
winners of all of the other Athlete of the Year awards for overall
title, which was a who’s who of aquatics stars in the
UK.
Prior to Tai visiting the
stage to pick up her first award of the evening, Adam Peaty was
awarded Swimming Athlete of the Year after his trio of World titles
this summer, with Jack Laugher named Diver of the Year, having
picked up two medals himself in Gwangju. Kate Shortman continues to
go from strength to strength and deservedly collected the Artistic
Swimmer of the Year award, whilst Lily Turner and Charlie Brogan
were crowned Female and Male Water Polo Athletes of the Year
respectively.
With 2019 a brilliant year
for British Swimming across all disciplines, it was always going to
be a hard fought battle, but an independent panel of experts named
Tai the victor. Clearly very emotional as she spoke to Hazel Irvine
on stage for a second time, Tai said:
“Shocked is
definitely a good way to describe it. Adam Peaty is just such an
incredible athlete, as is everyone else who was nominated and won
their categories, and honestly for him going sub 57 is insane, so
to have received the overall Athlete of the Year this evening is an
absolute honour.”
Talking about those seven
world titles, Tai added:
“I don’t think
it’ll ever fully sink in! Sometimes I think it has and then
I’ll have some sort of media opportunity and I’ll have
to pose with all my medals - as I’m putting them all on and
people are commenting on it I’m like, wow, this is
crazy!”
Looking ahead to 2020, the
Ealing swimmer said:
“My head is in a
great place going into Tokyo - I’m enjoying training and
I’m just enjoying every aspect of my life pretty much, so
I’m really looking forward to it and everything in between.
We’ve got Europeans as well and obviously the World Series
are back, so just doing as much racing as I possibly can and seeing
where I can go with it towards Tokyo.”
Adam Peaty had to see off
competition from Duncan Scott and James Wilby for the Swimming
award, all three men returning from the World Championships as
multi-medallists, namely as part of that infamous Men’s
Medley Relay squad that stopped America’s domination in the
event. Referencing that, Peaty commented
afterwards:
“It’s probably
one of those moments that I’ll remember for the rest of my
life in terms of the minute details. When Duncan dived in we were
behind America and Russia, who both have world class swimmers, so
for him to come back on that last 25m was extremely exciting. I
started jumping up and down with 25m to go and it got closer and
closer and then he chewed them up in the last five metres –
I’ve never seen anything like it!”
It was a good night for the
National Centre Loughborough as Peaty’s coach Mel Marshall
was named Swimming Coach of the Year having steered the
breaststroker, Luke Greenbank and that Medley Relay team to medals
at the World Championships. She was quick to thank the wider
support network of staff and practitioners who make pushing the
boundaries of human performance possible. Kayla Van der Merwe was
named Swimming Emerging Athlete of the Year after a summer that saw
her win World and European Junior medals as well as breaking
British age group records.
Unable to be there to
collect the award in person, Jack Laugher scooped the Diver of the
Year gong for the second consecutive year, whilst his City of Leeds
coach Adam Smallwood deservedly won Diving Coach of the Year having
guided Laugher and his synchro partner Dan Goodfellow to World
silver, as well as Laugher’s individual bronze. On top of
that Anthony Harding secured Diving Emerging Athlete of the Year, a
great night for the Leeds contingent.
After a remarkable London
2019 World Para Swimming Championships, Tai took the top prize, but
there was also recognition for Glasgow’s rising star Louis
Lawlor who was named Para-Swimming Emerging Athlete of the Year
after winning bronze in the capital, whilst Jacquie Marshall won
Para-Swimming Coach of the Year, her trio of medal winning athletes
Ellie Robinson, Maisie Summers-Newton and Zara Mullooly collecting
it on her behalf.
On to Artistic Swimming and
it was Kate Shortman who took top billing for the discipline after
sharing the award with synchro partner Izzy Thorpe 12 months
earlier. The duet’s coach Paolo Basso took home the Coach of
the Year award, the Italian having done wonders since her
appointment at the helm of the Bristol based setup. She
said:
“It means really a
lot, because it somehow pays off the hard work we do - it’s a
big thing for me. It’s really a pleasure to coach them (Kate
and Izzy) because they are hard workers - they are so determined
and I feel we share the three of us this passion to get to the
Olympic Games. We want to make it, we really want to go to Tokyo
2020 and we are doing whatever we can to make
it.”
Last but by no means least
were our Water Polo winners Lily Turner and Charlie Brogan, who
have both been on fine form in 2019. Turner has continued her
progress at the University of California, Berkeley, whilst
youngster Brogan continues to belie his youth both at national and
international level. The coaching accolade went to Phil Powell, the
Solihull coach having done a sterling job in guiding the GB U17 Men
to fourth at the EU Nations, despite being a year younger than
their rivals.
Watch interviews with all award
recipients on the British Swimming
YouTube playlist here.
2019 british
swimming award winners
-
Alice Tai, Overall British Swimming Athlete of the Year 2019
-
Jack Laugher, Diving Athlete of the Year 2019 Sponsored by GLL
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Alice Tai, Para-Swimming Athlete of the Year 2019 Sponsored by Everyone Active
-
Adam Peaty, Swimming Athlete of the Year 2019 Sponsored by Tenerife Top Training
-
Kate Shortman, Artistic Swimming Athlete of the Year 2019
-
Lily Turner, Water Polo Female Athlete of the Year 2019
-
Charlie Brogan, Water Polo Male Athlete of the Year 2019
-
Adam Smallwood, Diving Coach of the Year 2019 Sponsored by Traveleads
-
Jacquie Marshall, Para- Swimming Coach of the Year 2019
-
Melanie Marshall, Swimming Coach of the Year 2019 Sponsored by SOS
-
Paola Basso, Artistic Swimming Coach of the Year 2019
-
Phil Powell, Water Polo Coach of the Year 2019
-
Anthony Harding, Diving Emerging Athlete of the Year 2019
-
Louis Lawlor, Para-Swimming Emerging Athlete of the Year 2019 Sponsored by UP&GO
-
Kayla Van der Merwe, Swimming Emerging Athlete of the Year 2019 Sponsored by SOS
