Harrogate swimmer Hollie Wilson to represent Great Britain at European Youth Olympic Festival

Teenager Hollie Wilson will compete for Team GB at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Maribor, Slovenia next month in the freestyle category.

She will be joined there by club-mate Khourosh Khodakhah, while Leah Schlosshan, the European Junior 200m individual medley champion, defends her title in Belgrade in July.

Meanwhile, Daniel Ransom and Gabriel Shephard will represent England Schools at the World School Games out in Brazil.

For City of Leeds head coach Richard Denigan, seeing so many of his young prospects flourishing fills him with pride and reflects well on the work the club has been doing at its base at the John Charles Aquatics Centre.

And he believes that 14-year-old Wilson’s success in qualifying for the European Youth Olympic Festival via strong performances at the British Swimming Championships in Sheffield in April, can be used as a motivating factor for the squad’s younger swimmers.

“Hollie has been with us since the age of nine,” Denigan said of 14-year-old Wilson. “She has a strong work ethic, she’s not afraid to work hard.

"When we do school talent ID for example, or new swimmers from the Learn to Swim programme, we always use these examples, and we’ve got many of them now, of what you could be doing in six years time, in eight years time.

“The fact we have five competing for Great Britain in one season is a really good showcase for the young swimmers and a motivation for what they can achieve.”