Angharad Evans Faces Successive Contests as Europeans Follow Hot on the Heels of Glasgow Glory
Angharad Evans made history and a personal breakthrough at the Commonwealth Games with the European Championships coming hot on the heels of Glasgow.
Evans won the 100/200m breaststroke at Tollcross International Swimming Centre for her first individual honours on the international stage as well as silver and bronze relay medals.
Angharad Evans: Photo Courtesy: Morgan Harlow/Aquatics GB
It helped her banish the spectre of the 2025 worlds when she’d arrived in Singapore atop the 100 world rankings but finished 18th in prelims before responding to take fifth over 200m.
The University of Stirling swimmer tops the rankings in both the 100 (1:04.96) and 200 (2:19.70) but Glasgow also represented resilience and digging deep into her reserves for victory.
The likes of Anna Elendt, Evgeniia Chikunova, Tes Schouten, Mona McSharry and Benedetta Pilato await in the French capital with little time to separate Glasgow joy and Paris preparation.
Evans has practised competing in back to back meets over the last months, going from short-course Europeans into an event in Australia and on to BUCS, the Edinburgh International and the Giant Open in Paris.
Speaking to Swimming World ahead of Glasgow, Evans said: “That’s something the first two years at Stirling I hadn’t really done and I was nervous doing that this year but I’ve just shown myself that it was very consistent times and I think I just proved to myself that I don’t train six days a week to be able to swim fast on one day, I train six times a week to be able to swim fast when I need to swim fast and this year it happens to be 10 days apart and two major championship meets.
“I’m looking at it as two big opportunities that I’m lucky to have rather than two burdens. It’s exciting to be able to represent Scotland and then Great Britain. I think that’s a shift in my mindset because previously I probably would’ve been dreading it and worried about how my body would’ve taken those impacts but I feel ready for it. I think the way Stirling has set me up for this double is really exciting.”
