Ed Mildred, a 19-year-old aspiring athlete, is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Olympic champion Tom Dean. Mildred will be living with Dean in Paris next year and is determined to emulate the meteoric rise that Dean experienced before his gold medal-winning Olympic debut in Tokyo. This Northampton star graduated from the junior circuit with three Commonwealth and two European medals and is now aiming to take that to the next level.
Mildred has decided to join the British Swimming Performance Centre in Bath, where he will train alongside James Guy, Jacob Peters and of course, Tom Dean. It is under Dave McNulty, the coach who has steered Team GB onto the Olympic podium at each Olympics since Beijing 2008, that Mildred hopes to hone his skills and perfect his explosiveness in 100m events.
The target for Mildred this year is to make it onto the World Championships team, a goal achievable with a personal best at the British Swimming Championships, coming up in Sheffield’s Ponds Forge.
The impacts of Tom Dean, Dave McNulty and the rest of their team can not be overstated. Tom Dean has broken records and transcended the world of swimming all from never having won a global medal, inspiring Ed Mildred and a host of other swimmers on their journeys to athletic success. Meanwhile, Dave McNulty has mentored his team to new heights, helping them to focus and take every success or failure in stride. It is through their guidance, and the support of their peers, that swimmers such as Mildred can become an Olympic champion in the making.