Grantham swimmer trains for Paris Olympics

At just eight years old, Grantham’s Freya Colbert was in the crowd as Team GB swimmers booked their tickets to the London 2012 Olympics.

Now she will be one of the athletes on the train for her country to compete at Paris 2024 this summer.

A meteoric rise to the top in 2022 brought Colbert into the senior fold – becoming a European and Commonwealth medallist at just 18 years old.

Staring at Grantham Swim Club, her first taste of senior action was at the 2022 World Championships, missing out on half of her A-Level exams and prom to make her mark on the international stage.

The former Nova Centurion swimmer then took to the pool for Team England at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, winning bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay before adding European gold in the event and bagging individual 400m individual medley bronze in Rome.

In 2024, Colbert stormed to World Championship fame in the 400m IM for her first individual global title and stormed to victory in her favoured event at the Olympic trials in London to book her place on the train to Paris.

Outside of the pool, Colbert has recently taken to YouTube to document her swimming journey. From book clubs with her Loughborough teammates when at altitude to training insights, Colbert does it all.