Swim stars lay down the gauntlet

With a world championships to focus on and a degree to study for, one would think that Ellie Faulkner’s plate is already full.

Not so, for as well as 10 swimming sessions a week with four of those starting at 5.30am, built around burying her head in the books to support her studies at Sheffield Hallam University, the 20-year-old from Sheffield is also an ambassador for the British Gas SwimBritain challenge.

This latest string to her bow involves her promoting an initiative to encourage 500,000 people to swim regularly by 2015.

The programme is British Swimming’s attempt to create a legacy from London 2012, an Olympics in which Faulkner debuted.

Last summer’s home Games were all about inspiring a generation, and with swimming one of the main sports in the Olympic programme and a pastime most people can do to some degree, getting regular folk involved in an annual SwimBritain relay is a solid starting point.

Some of the big names of British swimming have signed up, from retired champions like Rebecca Adlington, to up-and-coming stars like Faulkner.

Qualifying for London came out of the blue for Faulkner, whose focus growing up in Sheffield and attending the city’s renowned swimming club at Ponds Forge, had been on Rio in 2016.

But in racing in the heats of her favourite 800m event in front of 17,500 fans at the Aquatics Centre last summer, Faulkner got the taste for what high-level competition is all about.

And because London was not the be all and end all of Faulkner’s career, as it was for swimmers like Adlington, the fall off the cliff in the wake of the Games was not as dramatic.

That’s why the long-distance swimmer heads to her home pool of Ponds Forge later this month for the British Championships and world trials, confident not only of sealing her place at the world championships in Barcelona at the end of July, but of making a real statement of how much she has developed since last year’s Olympic bow.

“Hopefully I’ve benefitted from maintaining the focus since London,” said Faulkner, who also contested the world short-course championships in Istanbul six months ago.

“It’s always been about Rio for me. London was a bonus and it taught me so much.

“The year after a Games for most can be a bit of a downer, but not for me.”

After what she hopes will be a breakout summer in the pool, Faulkner will be racing in one of 11 SwimBritain relays up and down the country, which are aimed at people of all abilities from the age of eight.

And with all the challenges she faces in her life, possibly the toughest came in her first ambassadorial role last week, teaching this un-co-ordinated sports journalist how to do the front crawl – or freestyle, as they say in the trade.

Now, despite careering towards mid-30s quicker than Michael Phelps attacks a tumble turn, I have never been taught how to do the most effective of swimming strokes.

But I was not alone. According to statistics, 51 per cent of people leave junior school unable to swim. Having never been taught front crawl, I presumed the proper tuition had passed me by so have only ever executed a very knock-kneed breaststroke.

But it is not just us non-sporting types who are without the basic front-crawl knowledge. Monique Gladding, a City of Sheffield diver who retired after competing at London 2012, is another ambassador for SwimBritain, not only to get more people swimming, but also herself.

The 31-year-old said: “I’m a diver but this is still great for me because I cannot swim that well. As divers, it’s all about explosion, not endurance.”

Together with Gladding, I was taught by Faulkner and Amateur Swimming Association aquatics officer Vicky Norman the basics of the freestyle.

It’s all about the breathing, see. Breathe out under water, pop your head up to take only a small breath and then propel yourself forward with your feet, which are powered by the tops of your legs.

The arm movement is all about scooping water out of your path.

Easy. Well, sort of. After 30 minutes in the pool surrounded by three people whose living is spent in the water, my front crawl – sorry, freestyle – no longer resembled someone fighting their way out of an underwater telephone box.

Not that I am now ready to take on Ellie Faulkner or any other stars of the pool, although I might just take the chance to do so in the SwimBritain relay in August and September

SwimBritain is broken down into three strands. The main one is a relay in 250m legs. Each person swims four legs, 1,000m in total. Little SwimBritain is a relay of 125m legs for families and children aged between eight and 16. SwimBritain DIY is for solo swimmers.

The package also incorporates quality coaching, motivation and encouragement from Britain’s biggest swimming stars. The event in Sheffield is held on Sunday, September 1.

Prices are £15 for adults, £10 under-16s, or £10 for British Gas customers. Family passes are priced £29, or £25 for British Gas customers. And it’s £29 (£20 British Gas customers) for the open water event. For information or to sign up visit www.swimbritain.co.uk/signup