The Edinburgh International Swim Meet 2019
UK and Europe’s best swimmers take to Edinburgh’s Royal Commonwealth Pool in March.
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, supported by University of Edinburgh Sport, 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 will be a strong contingent from the University of Edinburgh's Performance Swim team including Commonwealth and European Games swimmers Lucy Hope, Kathryn Greenslade and David Cumberlidge, as well as 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 https//:eism.org.uk in March.
Demand for spectator tickets is expected to be high. Tickets priced from £5-8.00 will go on sale on 23 February. Details of how to order tickets can be found on the event website.
The University of Edinburgh Performance Swim Team
Swimming is one of the University of Edinburgh’s core performance sports. Since 2008, when the programme was first introduced, the University of Edinburgh has placed athletes on World Championship, Paralympic, Commonwealth and other international teams under Head Coach Chris Jones. The two performance squads train for over 20 hours a week and the athletes balance this with their studies. The University is now regularly ranked in the top three at the British University Championships, had athletes represent their countries at the 2016 Rio Olympics and saw an impressive medal haul at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. The Programme aims to provide students with the best support, delivered by 3 full-time swim coaches. Swimmers benefit from an individualised approach to strength and conditioning, physiotherapy and medical support from the dedicated, world leading FASIC Sport & Exercise Medicine Clinic.