It’s easy to forget that Katie Shanahan is still something of a rookie in international swimming terms.
Just a few years ago, she was merely a precocious junior with heaps of talent.
Now, however, despite still being in her teens, she’s established herself as one of British swimming’s brightest stars and goes into major championships being viewed as a legitimate medal contender.
A serious candidate for silverware is exactly how Shanahan is being seen at this week’s European Shortcourse Championships, which begin in the Romanian city of Bucharest today.
It’s quite something that in a squad that also includes the likes of Duncan Scott, Adam Peaty and Tom Dean, Shanahan is one of the standout names but her rapid rise over recent seasons means such expectation is fully justified.
It’s quite a weight upon these young shoulders but Shanahan remains steadfastly undaunted by the expectations of others and in fact, the only pressure she feels is that which she exerts upon herself.
“I don’t feel anybody else is putting pressure on me, I feel like it’s purely me putting it on myself,” the 19-year-old says.
“Knowing I did well last season, I want to keep that going and show everyone that I can still do better.
“I don’t feel like the pressure is a burden on me at all. Since a young age, I’ve been pretty lucky in that I’ve been able to handle any expectation on me. I always swim a lot better at the big meets and in the big arenas, I seem to be able to do what I need to do which is good, because it’s the results there that really matter.
“I do forget how young I am because I’m always wanting to swim faster and I want to win medals so it’s easy to forget that I’ve got my whole career to do that. Of course it’s amazing to be doing that now but I do have to remember I still have time. But I think it’s a good thing to be striving for more – I’ve got nothing to lose so why not aim high?”
Shanahan won a brace of bronze medals at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games as well as silver at the European Championships last summer but it was her World Championships debut earlier this year that proved the Glaswegian had really elevated her level and was now a truly world class swimmer.
Fourth place in the final of the 200m backstroke as well as seventh in the 400m medley highlighted the improvement Shanahan made last winter and the teenager, who is part of the lauded University of Stirling swimming programme, is confident that she has once again made significant improvements ahead of these European Shortcourse Championships, hence her lofty targets in Bucharest.
“A lot of my improvement has been down to moving away from club swimming into the University of Stirling; being in that environment every day has definitely helped me take that step forward,” she says.
“And we’re not long home from a training camp in Flagstaff in Arizona and the altitude training seems to really work for me so I’m feeling good.
“I love competing so I’m really excited for the European Shortcourse.
“I definitely want to see how close I can get to the podium. It’ll be a tough competition because a lot of the European swimmers are very good at short course, and with only two Brits getting through to the finals, it’ll be very tough in the heats. And so if I can make some finals, the goal will definitely be to see how close I can get to the medals, and a few PBs on top of that would be good too.”
With the 2024 Olympics now less than eight months away, it’s inevitable that Shanahan’s mind is already wandering to making her Olympic debut in Paris next summer.
She has the small matter of qualification to take care of first, at the Olympic trials in April, but having become British champion in both the 200m backstroke and the 200m medley in 2023, a repeat performance would see Shanahan guaranteed to make her Olympic debut next summer.
Despite the proximity of the Olympic Games, however, Shanahan is forcing herself to focus on the basics, rather than get caught up in the bigger picture.
“This whole season is about it being Olympic year but I don’t let that come into my head too much,” she insists.
“First off, I want to get these Europeans done, and then once I get into January I can start thinking about it being Olympic year.
“Obviously the Olympics is in my mind because it’s what we’re training for but being in the environment I am in Stirling, which is pretty laid-back even though it’s very high-level training, helps. It’s all about taking things step by step."
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