News

Katie Shanahan set for Paris pinnacle

The Aquatics Centre of the Paris 2024 Olympics is a far cry from the Scotia Amateur Swimming Club in Bishopbriggs but that’s the length of the journey Katie Shanahan will complete in the coming days.

The double Commonwealth Games medallist, who only turned 20 in June, will make her Olympics debut in France’s capital, backed by an ever-loyal following of family and friends.

One of a number of Scotland-based Team GB Olympians supported by Winning Students 100, the country’s sports scholarship programme, Katie met nomination times in the 200m backstroke and 400m individual medley at the British trials in April to qualify.

Looking ahead to the experience of a lifetime – so far, she said: “I feel really grateful and privileged to be picked by Team GB and I’m just so excited to go and be part of that Olympic bubble and atmosphere. Even just being in the village with other athletes, especially for a multi-sport event, there will be loads of famous athletes which will be cool.

“Quite a lot of my family are coming over to watch, and those who aren’t will be watching from home, which is good to know I’ll have people here watching and support at home too.

“I’m not putting any pressure on myself in terms of results, as long as I’m moving my swims along. I think the main thing for me is just to enjoy my first Olympic Games, I’m never going to have that again, competing at my first Olympics, so the pressure is off to an extent, and I just want to enjoy the moment, enjoy the atmosphere.”

So how did a young girl from a Glasgow suburb make it all the way to representing Scotland at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and now, Team GB at Paris 2024?

Katie continued: “My mum put me into mother and toddler swim classes, so I was very very young when I started swimming. She always tells the story that all the parents and mums would be too scared to dunk their babies under the water but apparently I used to love it so I’d always be the demonstration because I loved it so much.

“I then started at my first swimming club in Bishopbriggs, then moved on to the club in Glasgow which was really the start of my career. I made my first Scottish team when I was 12, so again quite young, and since then I’ve been in Scottish teams, British teams and now, I’m going to the Olympics.

“I started out at Scotia ASC in Bishopbriggs then it was City of Glasgow at Tollcross pool. I also did ballet when I was younger, but I always knew I was going to be a swimmer, that was the main focus of my life. I also did dancing until I was 13, 14, so a fair amount of time, some gymnastics too but swimming was always the focus.

“When I made my first team for Scotland that was the point at which I knew I could compete well, as I was younger than most people in the team which told me that I was all right at it. Once I made my first Scotland team I really just wanted to make more as I had such a good time, so I wanted to keep doing well and make more teams.”

Katie cites coach Danielle Brayson, now Swimming Technical Lead with Swim England, as a key influence during her early development, stating “she was such a good coach and role model, she always brought fun to the sessions”.

Shortlisted for Scottish Student Sport – Female Athlete of the Year – Katie combines her swimming pursuits alongside her studies, currently in her second year of a Journalism and Sports Studies course at the University of Stirling.

Reflecting on the importance of the support of her institution in tandem with the Winning Students 100 programme, Katie added: “It’s so good to have that support. To know you’ve got Winning Students 100 and the university supporting you, it’s such a good programme they’ve set up here.

“Athletes who aren’t able to get access to funding or whose governing bodies maybe don’t have enough funding, so they need to turn to part-time jobs while training and doing uni, that’s always quite hard for athletes. Winning Students is just such a good programme and it’s so important to have something like this in Scotland, it really is so supportive.”

Many sacrifices have been made along the way (“parties missed!”) just as many role models such as Hannah Miley have inspired, but Katie is only focused on the future and adding to a career CV already rich with highlights at yet still a young age.

She concluded: “The Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, getting the two bronze medals in front of a home crowd with my family in the stand was really special. I’ll remember that forever, especially my first medal and looking up at all the Scottish flags, that was a really special moment.

“I’ve had a lot of proud moments in my career so far but it’s all just aiming towards this summer now, trying to do well in Paris and make some more memories.”