Young Brits look to end season on a high at the European U23 Championships

The inaugural LEN European U23 Swimming Championships take place across the next three days to round out the competitive swimming season.

The Irish capital of Dublin will host the event from 11-13 August at the Sport Ireland: National Aquatics Centre where around 400 young swimmers will compete for European medals.

More than 40 nations have entered into the event with international teams from the United States of America, South Africa and Zimbabwe among the non-European nations to have submitted entries for the competition.

Heats will take place at 9:30am each day with finals being held at 6:00pm BST where on Friday the first gold medal will be awarded in the Women’s 50m Breaststroke event.

Night two will be highlighted by an innovative new 50m Freestyle ‘skins’ event before the competition closes on Sunday as the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle provides an exciting conclusion in Ireland.

You can watch the Championships live and for free on the LEN European Aquatics YouTube channel throughout the three days and you can find the full schedule and live results here.

Schlosshan looking for more success

After setting a new European Junior Championships record in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley last month, City of Leeds swimmer Leah Schlosshan will be looking for more success in Dublin.

Her time of a 2:12.41 made her a back-to-back champion in the event and she’ll be looking to continue that success on an even greater stage this weekend.

“I’m really excited for this one as it’s my first senior meet,” she told LEN.

“It feels special, especially in Dublin because I love this city and also because when I first heard about the event I thought it was a great idea because U23’s helps bridge the gap between juniors and seniors which is exactly what we need.”

She’s part of an exciting team of 18 British swimmers who have taken the trip across the Irish Sea.

Ten English swimmers make up the majority of that squad for a competition has been created to provide young athletes with more international race experience.

The event will see both Lilly Booker and Charlie Hutchison to make their international debuts at the event as they look to grasp their opportunity to shine in Dublin.

More experienced talent are also amongst the squad including senior European medallist Ed Mildred – who also helped Team England to three relay medals at Birmingham 2022. Greg Butler, who just missed out on a semi-final place in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke at the senior World Championships two weeks ago, is also in Ireland and was part of the same 4x100m Mixed Medley relay team as Butler that won bronze for Team England at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre one year ago.

You can find the full British squad here.