Harris won bronze in Birmingham before starring in Rome.

Welsh swimmers Medi Harris and Daniel Jervis have been selected to represent Great Britain for Melbourne’s World Short Course Championships.

The Swim Wales duo will travel down under as part of an 11-strong British Swimming team heading to Melbourne for December’s 16th FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships (13th – 18th December), as attention turns to the 25m pool after one of the sport’s busiest-ever seasons.

Harris will be aiming to build on her breakthrough 2021/22 season, which brought a haul of Commonwealth and European medals. The North Walian backstroke star announced herself on the world stage with a brilliant bronze in Birmingham before becoming a European relay champion and claiming individual silver in Rome.

For Jervis, the international season opener will give him the opportunity to shake off the disappointment of the Birmingham Games, where he was forced to withdraw after contracting COVID-19 just days before the beginning of the aquatics schedule.  

The pair will join a British team which involves a number of notable performers from all three major competitions this year, including sprint freestyler Ben Proud – who secured the historic hat-trick of 50m Freestyle World, Commonwealth and European titles in the space of two months.

Also joining Proud are Olympic gold medallists Adam Peaty, Anna Hopkin and Tom Dean, with Peaty making a return to action on the global stage for GB after missing June’s World Championships with a foot injury, before completing his 50m and 100m career clean sweep with 50m Breaststroke gold for Team England at the Commonwealth Games. Double Tokyo 2020 medallist Luke Greenbank and multiple European podium-placer Abbie Wood are also on the plane.

The World Short Course Championships (taking place at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre) will be the first international taste of short-course action for many of the swimmers since the last edition of the competition in Abu Dhabi last year.

Those attending this event for the first time include European champion Harris and world medallist Lewis Burras, as the pair look to finish their impressive senior breakthrough years with strong results and valuable experience in Australia. Distance freestyler Jervis will look to build into his season at the competition, while Imogen Clark and Isabella Hindley complete a strong-looking British outfit.

Performance Director Chris Spice said:

“These World Short Course Championships are a great opportunity for the group to get back into top-level racing early in the season, while also acting as a stepping stone for our ultimate 2023 target of the World Championships in Fukuoka next summer,” he said.

“It’s great that we are able to take a team of this strength and experience to Melbourne, including Adam, who unfortunately had to miss an important chunk of last season, athletes like Ben and Tom, who had outstanding summers. Anna is an experienced, world-class short-course racer, and it’s fantastic that Abbie is involved too after having to pull out of last year’s World Short Course meet due to illness.

“There is also an important chance for some of the swimmers to experience another world-class arena as part of their ongoing learnings, and we are excited that the team will be able to get involved in and practice more relays across the meet. We have a great group and hopefully we will be able to continue our solid preparations as we head into the new year.”

British Swimming team for the FINA World Short Course Championships in Melbourne, Australia (13th-18th December 2022):

Lewis Burras, Winchester City

Imogen Clark, Derventio Excel

Tom Dean, Bath Performance Centre

Luke Greenbank, Loughborough Performance Centre

Medi Harris, Swim Wales Performance Centre, Swansea

Isabella Hindley, Brompton Swimming Club

Anna Hopkin, Loughborough Performance Centre

Daniel Jervis, Swim Wales Performance Centre, Swansea

Adam Peaty, Loughborough Performance Centre

Ben Proud, Bath University

Abbie Wood, Loughborough Performance Centre