Strong British swim team named for European Juniors

BRITAIN'S junior swimmers have been told to step up to the challenge at the forthcoming European Junior Championships in Prague.

INSPIRATION: Rebecca Adlington won European Junior gold over 800m freestyle at the 2004 championships in Lisbon (SWpix.com)

British Swimming unveiled a bumper 57-strong squad for the event in the Czech Republic.

And head coach Chris Martin is looking for results after Great Britain topped the medal table in Belgrade last year with ten golds, five silvers and three bronzes.

"There's been a steady rate of improvement for Britain on the European stage and we want to see that continue with this squad," he said.

"I believe only the strong survive and will be looking to those who qualified in third or fourth place at the trials to step up to see if they can beat those ahead of them.

"A lot of people swam really fast at the trials, faster than a year before at the March mark and we're hoping they'll continue to take steps forward in Prague.

"We have to use to our advantage the fact we have a big team. We have to promote competition within our own ranks to get as many athletes as possible to finals.

"The European Junior Championships allows four entries per nation, per event hence the size of the British squad but this is likely to be the last time we have a team of this size."