How Yorkshire swimmer Leah Schlosshan turned Olympic qualifying heartbreak into world championship debut

But instead of being crestfallen or left to doubt herself or her place in the sport, Yorkshire swimmer Leah Schlosshan saw it as a motivation.

In fact, so determined was the then-teenager not to let the disappointment overwhelm her, she actually confronted it head on.

Where most might have gone on holiday or watched a boxset rather than wall-to-wall Games coverage, Schlosshan went to the La Defense Arena in the business district of Paris to watch the Olympic swimming competition.

“I’d come to terms with it by then,” explains the 20-year-old from Adel in Leeds.

“I was so close to qualifying that it was so annoying at the time, but I just went out to Paris to enjoy watching the Games because I love watching swimming, I’m a fan after all. I was over it, and watching it made me more excited to start the season.”

She cheered from the sidelines as the British swimmers who had done enough to qualify enjoyed a successful Games in the pool, a meet dominated by one man, home favourite Leon Marchand.

“We were at the athletics one night when the French were screaming Marchand’s name, and that was a spine-tingling experience,” remembers Schlosshan.

Despite her first taste of an Olympics coming as a fan rather than a competitor, the experience mixed with the disappointment of missing out so narrowly spurred Schlosshan on.

She had just finished a gap year in between completing her A-levels at Bradford Grammar School and starting university, a period in which she spent most of her time down at the John Charles Aquatics Centre, home to the City of Leeds Swimming Club where she had been a member since her formative years.

A star pupil at school and in the pool, Schlosshan had reached a point where she needed to spread her wings both academically and in a sporting sense.

So after returning home from Paris, she took the plunge, starting a degree in bio medical sciences and at the University of Manchester, and switching to a swimming team there that is home to a host of Olympians.

The step up has had the desired effect, for 12 months after finishing fifth in the 200m freestyle at last year’s British Championships and missing out on Paris by a place and those pesky 0.13 seconds, she returned to finish second last month and seal her spot at the world championships in Singaore this summer.

“Missing out last year really spurred me on,” says Schlosshan.

“It was a year in which I got touched out in most races I did; European short course I was third overall in the heats but because only two Brits could go through I missed out by milliseconds. The same thing happened at Europeans.

“So this year I was determined not to let that happen again, I needed to get my finishes better to start being the one touching the other swimmers out.

“Qualifying for Singapore is a big achievement for me. But this year it’s been more of a realistic aim, or dream, or whatever you want to call it.

“I wouldn’t say I was shocked when I qualified, I was just so, so happy and relieved. I knew I had it in me.

“I suppose I just look at it as though last year wasn’t my year. Fair enough, I didn’t qualify, that’s how swimming works and you just have to move on.

“This year it’s started going my way and I’m really grateful for that and I’ve got to take it from there.”

The environment she is in in Manchester has helped. With the greatest of respect to City of Leeds, she had outgrown the club that had harnessed her talent.

“In Leeds I was a big fish in a small pond,” she says, forever grateful to the people there led by her long-time coach Richard Denigan who helped nurture a talent that won gold medals at successive European Junior Championships.

“I’m probably hungrier now than I ever was, possibly because I’m in a professional environment.

“I’m training with James Guy, Matt Richards, all these swimmers who have Olympic medals. It’s so inspiring being around people like that. Going to training and seeing what they do every day is incredible.

“They lead by example. Even if I’m nervous before a race, they’ll tell me it’s all right, they’ll say it’s normal to get nervous before a race. It’s nice to have those role models and that gives me motivation. It shows that it doesn’t have to just stop here, you can make it all the way.

“James Guy will even go under water to look at me technically and give me advice because coaches can only see what’s going on on top of the water.”

Staying close to home has helped as well. An A-star student to go with her athletic pedigree, Schlosshan had the pick of universities and swimming programmes to go to.

For a long time, Bath and Loughborough were possible destinations, and she was even contacted by colleges in America offering her swimming scholarships, but she was wary of the culture change. So she opted for the short hop across the M62.

“For a long time it wasn’t a centre I could even consider, it was only really Bath or Loughborough,” says Schlosshan.

“It’s close to home, I really like the coach, I really like the pool, and the university course was the one I wanted to do.”

If year one of university and life in a professional swimming environment has gone a lot better, she sees waves to be negotiated on the path ahead.

Schlosshan studies bio medical sciences, one of the more demanding courses.

“I settled in well in September, made a few friends, I was a bit more sociable then, and then from January onwards, I was settled with where everyone was in the city, so I became more focused on swimming. I am able to fit all my uni work in - maybe not every lecture but I can catch up online.

“I had an offer to study medicine but I thought doing a degree like bio med would be a little easier. I didn’t think it would be this intense, but I am able to manage it, it’s fine. It might get a tiny bit trickier next year but I’ll just cross that bridge when I come to it.”

She is actually doing fewer hours in the pool in Manchester than she was doing in Leeds, down from 21 to 18.

But that work in Manchester has just built upon the hour upon hour that Schlosshan put in at the John Charles Centre, essential groundwork to help her on the road to Singapore and if she stays on this trajectory, an Olympic debut as a competitor this time, in 2028.