SOME of the best swimmers from the UK and abroad will compete at the Edinburgh International Swim Meet (EISM) next month (15-17 March 2019).
Reintroduced to the UK swim calendar five years ago, the annual meet now regularly hosts the best in GB swimming, challenged this year by the Danish and Spanish national teams and top individual and club swimmers from Norway, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Germany and France – to name but a few.
Breaststroke interest will undoubtedly centre on World record holder, Adam Peaty, who, along with his Loughborough National Centre team mate, James Wilby, will hope to keep Stirling University’s Ross Murdoch behind them.
Other leading Brits attending from Bath and Loughborough National Centre’s include James Guy, Siobhan Marie O’Connor, Sarah Vasey, Tom Dean, Molly Renshaw and Luke Greenbank.
Adding local interest are Edinburgh University’s Commonwealth and European Games swimmers, Lucy Hope, Kathryn Greenslade and David Cumberlidge, Aberdeen’s Hannah Miley and Stirling’s Duncan Scott, Aimee Willmott and Murdoch.
A strong Danish contingent features Olympic sprint champion Pernille Blume, and fellow Olympian butterfliers, Jeanette Ottesen, Emile Beckmann and Viktor Bromer. The Royal Spanish National team includes European breaststroke silver medallist Jessica Vall and individual medley bronze medallist, Joan Luis Pons. Olympian Lena Kreundl will be hoping to take medley honours back to Austria in the female event but will have to contend with Miley and Willmott to do so. On backstroke, French national champion, Geoffroy Mathieu, will go head-to-head with Britain’s Elliot Clogg; both contested the European championships last year in Glasgow.
Event organisers, the East District of the Scottish Amateur Swimming Association has developed the meet in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh Council and TYR to bring world-class swimmers to the Scottish capital. The meet provides a first opportunity this year to assess preparations for the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
SASA East District president Les Rodgers, commented:“We are delighted again to welcome the best swimmers in Europe to the Edinburgh International Swim Meet including, for the first time this year, top multi classification swimmers drawn from across the UK who will compete in a number of events. The prize money this year tops £12,500, and we are grateful to our main partners the University of Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh Council and TYR for their generosity is supporting the event.”
Jim Aitken, director of The University of Edinburgh Sport & Exercise, stated:“The University of Edinburgh is thrilled to be a main sponsor of the EISM for the fifth year. Swimming is one of the university’s leading sports and we see EISM as an exciting way to showcase our world-class Performance Sport Programme and the university, while also supporting SASA East in delivering another magnificent sporting spectacle for the city.“
Frank Ross, Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, welcomed the event, stating: “Edinburgh is one of the most exciting and beautiful capital cities in the world, with its unique history and culture attracting millions of visitors each year. It is also a city of great sporting traditions and has hosted many major sporting events in recent times, including swimming and diving competitions. The Royal Commonwealth Pool, overlooked by Edinburgh’s ancient volcano Arthur’s Seat, will once again provide an impressive backdrop for this event, and I am sure will give a real sense of occasion to all, whether competing or watching.”
TYR will provide prizes to those competing and event merchandise which can be pre-ordered from the event website in March.
Demand for spectator tickets is expected to be high.
Tickets priced from £5-8.00 will go on sale on 23 February.
Heats take place in the morning and afternoon each day with finals at night. The finals programme is as follows:
Friday evening: Men 1500m Freestyle, Women 100m Backstroke, Men 100m Backstroke, Women 200m Butterfly, Men 200m Freestyle, Women 50m Freestyle, Men 50m Butterfly, Women 400m Freestyle, Men 200m Breaststroke, Women 100m Breaststroke, Men 200m IM, Mixed 4x 100m Medley relay.
Saturday evening: Men 400m IM, Women 800m Freestyle, Men 50m Backstroke, Women 50m Backstroke, Men 100m Breaststroke, Women 100m Butterfly, Men 200m Butterfly, Women 400m IM, Men 50m Freestyle, Women 50m Breaststroke, Men 800m Freestyle, Women 200m Freestyle, Mixed 4 x 100m Freestyle relay.
Sunday evening: Women 200m IM, Men 50m Breaststroke, Women 50m Butterfly, Men 200m Backstroke, Women 200m Backstroke, Men 100m Freestyle, Women 200m Breaststroke, Men 400m Freestyle, Women 1500m Freestyle, Men 100m Butterfly, Women 100m Freestyle.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
