By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
See all of our 2025 Swammy Awards here.
Although it was a trying year by many accounts for Great Britain, winning just two medals at the 2025 World Championships, there were still several highlights throughout the year, and many of those came courtesy of swimmers from the University of Stirling, where new coach Ben Higson heads up the program.
Higson, who took over for Steven Tigg at Stirling late last year, had a strong debut campaign by landing eight swimmers on the British World Championship roster, the most of any team in the nation.
Headlining the Striling group at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in April on the men’s side was Duncan Scott, who swept the 200 free (1:45.08), 200 fly (1:54.89) and 200 IM (1:56.44), setting a new best time in the 200 fly and a season-best in the 200 free that ultimately ranked him tied for 10th in the world for 2025.
For the women, Angharad Evans had a pair of standout swims in the breaststroke events, setting a new British Record of 1:05.37 in the 100 breast, which ranks her 4th in the world for 2025. In the 200 breast, Evans dropped eight-tenths off her best time in 2:21.86, putting her within a second of the British Record and ranking her 3rd in the world for the year.
Also landing a spot on the Worlds team from Stirling were Keanna MacInnes, Katie Shanahan, Holly McGill, Lucy Hope and Freya Anderson for the women, and Jack McMillan for the men.
MacInnes won the women’s 100 and 200 fly, Shanahan topped the 100 and 200 back, and Anderson won the 100 free, while McGill was the runner-up in the 200 back and Hope earned a 5th-place finish in the 200 free.
McMillan, who later in the year took a big step forward in short course meters, set a new best time of 1:46.49 to land 4th place in the men’s 200 free to earn a Worlds berth–he ended up also racing the 400 free at the World Championships after placing 3rd.
In Singapore, Scott opted to only race one individual event, the 200 IM, where he finished 4th (1:56.32) after setting a season-best of 1:55.51 in the semis. McMillan set a best time in his lone individual event, the 400 free, taking 14th (3:47.28).
The biggest highlight of the year for British swimming was the men’s performance in the 4×200 free relay, where McMillan split 1:45.65 on the third leg and Scott anchored in a blistering 1:43.82 as they won gold in a time of 6:59.84, topping China (7:00.91) by over a second.
For the women, Evans rebounded from a disastrous swim in the heats of the 100 breast, where she missed the semis, to make the final of the 200 breast, placing 5th in 2:24.21. MacInnes was a semi-finalist in both fly events, as was Anderson in the 100 free and McGill in the 200 back.
Along with the men’s win in the 4×200 free relay, Great Britain’s four other relays that made the final in Singapore featured at least one Stirling swimmer, with Scott on the men’s 4×100 free (4th) and 4×100 medley (6th), Anderson on the women’s 4×200 free (5th), and both Evans and Anderson on the women’s 4×100 medley (8th).
In early December at the European Short Course Championships, Scott and McMillan were both individual gold medalists, with McMillan claiming the men’s 400 free on the opening day in a time of 3:36.33, a massive personal best time. Later in the meet, Scott won the 200 free in a time of 1:40.54, with McMillan claiming silver in 1:40.94.
On the women’s side, Evans earned silver in the 200 breast for her first major individual medal, also taking 6th in the 100 breast, while Shanahan picked up silver in the 200 back and added a 4th-place finish in the 200 IM. Anderson also placed 4th in the 200 free and 9th in the 100 free.
In addition to their success on the international stage, the University of Stirling women’s team also won the 2025 BUCS title, while the men were runner-ups.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Ryan Livingstone – Like Higson, Livingstone has recently taken on a new coaching role, moving from Millfield to the Aquatics GB Manchester Performance Centre in 2024. At Manchester, Livingstone guided Matt Richards to a standout year, led James Guy to a return to top form in 2025, and put a total of six swimmers on the British World Championship team. Richards and Guy swam the opening two legs of the British men’s victorious 4×200 free relay at Worlds, while Richards made an individual final in the 100 free (8th) and Guy followed suit in the 200 free (7th). Evan Jones also earned a gold medal after swimming a prelim leg on the 4×200 free relay. Other Manchester highlights in Singapore included Emily Richards, who was a finalist in the women’s 200 fly, and Edward Mildred, who was a semi-finalist in the men’s 100 and 200 fly, setting best times in both. Later in the year, Richards won bronze in the 100 free at SC Euros with a new British Record of 45.82, while Mildred set a new national mark in the 200 fly at the Swim England National Winter Championships (SC) in a time of 1:50.64. Keiron Piper – The head coach of perhaps the biggest bright spot for British swimming in 2025, Piper, who took over from Livingstone at the Millfield School, led rising star Filip Nowacki to a breakout year that included winning four European Junior titles in July and then a pair of World Junior titles in August. The now 18-year-old lowered the European Junior Record in the 200 breast multiple times throughout the year, including 2:08.32 en route to gold at Euro Juniors before dropping it all the way down to 2:07.32 at World Juniors, ranking him 3rd in the world for 2025. He also got down to 59.20 in the 100 breast, which ranks 14th in the world for the year and stands as the British Age Record for 17-year-olds. He’s within striking distance of the World Junior Records in both events, which were set at 58.94 and 2:06.91, respectively, by Japan’s Shin Ohashi in 2025. Taking a step up to the senior international stage at SC Euros in December, Nowacki placed 4th in the 200 breast (2:02.96) and 12th in the 100 breast (57.36). Dave Hemmings – Hemmings, the head coach at Loughborough, put six swimmers on the British World Championship team, led by Freya Colbert and Lauren Cox, who both set individual national records in long course. Colbert did so in the 200 free, clocking 1:55.06 to knock off a super-suited mark and place 4th at the World Championships while also making the final of the 400 IM (8th). Cox set a new British Record in the women’s 50 back (27.15) at the AP Race International meet in April, and followed up by placing 5th in the event at the World Championships. Other Loughborough swimmers who qualified for Worlds include Max Litchfield, who placed 7th in the men’s 400 IM, Abbie Wood, who was 6th in the w0men’s 400 IM, Luke Greenbank, who was 8th in the men’s 200 back, and Gregory Butler, who earned a pair of semi-final berths in the men’s 100 breast (13th) and 200 breast (9th). At the SC European Championships in December, Cox won gold in the women’s 100 back, Colbert earned two bronzes in the women’s 200 and 400 free, and Litchfield picked up silver in the men’s 400 IM.PREVIOUS WINNERS
2024 – Steven Tigg 2023 – Ryan Livingstone 2022 – Dave Hemmings 2021 – Dave McNulty 2020 – Dave McNulty 2019 – Mel Marshall 2018 – Steven TiggRead the full story on SwimSwam: 2025 Swammy Awards: British Coach of the Year – Ben Higson
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