BEN PROUD will head to his second Olympic Games after being named in Great Britain’s swimming squad for Tokyo.
The former Plymouth College pupil, who has won world, European and Commonwealth titles, finished fourth in the men’s 50m freestyle final at the last Olympics in Rio.
He will be hoping he can make the podium in Japan this summer and add the only medal missing from his collection.
“It feels really great to be selected,” said Proud after his spot in the Team GB squad was confirmed on Tuesday.
“For my first Games in Rio there was obviously loads of excitement around finally being an Olympian. Since then I’ve gathered a host of experience so coming back to the Olympics the second time, the goals are different but the ambition is still high.”
Proud is one of 28 swimmers who have now secured selection, with British Swimming likely to add up to seven more athletes to their team in June.
Plymouth Leander’s Laura Stephens will be hoping to be one of those late additions after not being included on Tuesday.
Stephens, a World Championship finalist in 2019, missed the qualifying time in the 100m butterfly at the British trials by just 0.06 of a second. She was also ranked fifth in the world at 200m butterfly last year and is currently 12th this year.
British Swimming performance director Chris Spice only named one discretionary pick on Tuesday, which was former Plymouth College and Leander swimmer Calum Jarvis, who has won two World Championship 4x200m relay gold medals.
Team GB Chef de Mission for Tokyo 2020, Mark England said: “The quality of this team is exceptionally high and the recent selection trials illustrated how dedicated each swimmer has been to earning their selection for Tokyo throughout what has undoubtedly been a very challenging period.”