European Championships part of final preparations for Paris bound trio

Team GB’s marathon swimming team will continue their busy preparation for the Games in Paris at the European Open Water Championships on Wednesday.

The Olympic-bound trio of Leah Crisp, Toby Robinson and Wales’ Hector Pardoe will take to the open water in what will be their final major competition ahead of the Games.

The European Championships in Belgrade, Serbia are being held across four sports with artistic swimming and open water headlining the opening week before swimming and diving take over for week two of the 14 day competition.

They’ll take to the Ada Ciganlija in the 10km races after a busy few weeks where they’ve competed in both the European and World Open Water Cup events at the end of May.

Back-to-back weekends in Italy helped prepare them for the Championships and the Games with some solid performances against some high level competition.

Bath Performance Centre’s Crisp will get the action underway when the female swimmers take to the water at around 8:00am UK time on Wednesday 12 June.

Crisp – who recorded two 12 place finishes at the events in Italy – will be looking to improve on those results in Serbia in what will be her first European Championship appearance.

Robinson and Pardoe – who won bronze at the World Championships in Doha – will then take to the water just hours later as the trio get more race miles under their belts.

The pair both finished inside the top ten at the World Aquatics event two weeks ago so will be hopeful of improving on that result and making a push towards the medal places in Serbia.

Speaking after the squad selection Aquatics GB Head of Performance Development Alan Lynn said: “For Hector, Leah Crisp and Toby in the marathon events, their focuses are very much on producing their best in Paris about seven weeks after the European Championships.

“So we know they will use this high-level racing opportunity as a key stepping stone towards the Olympics and to provide further indication of where they are at after some strong work in training over the months since February’s World Championships.”

You can watch all the action live on European Aquatics TV, with the full schedule available here and live results on the event website.