Five British swimmers to watch at the World Championships

Jemma Lowe could be one of five British prospects to flourish at the World Championships. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Lowe won her first major individual long course medal last year at the Commonwealth Games when she took silver in the 100m butterfly – her preferred event "because it's shorter!" – and this year is ranked third in the world in the 200m fly after swimming personal bests at the British championships earlier in the season. Lowe beat Fran Halsall in the 100m fly at the National Championships this year, her rival heaping on the praise. "You can only expect great things when people are swimming that well," said Halsall. Lowe has since moved to Swansea to work under Bud McAllister who also coaches another bright British prospect, Jazmin Carlin. Lowe will face an impressive Chinese pair at the World Championships in world rankings leaders Zige Liu and Liuyang Jiao.

Fran Halsall took two golds, two silvers and a bronze medal at the European Championships in 2010 Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images for British Gas

Although in Shanghai Halsall will compete in just two events, the Southport-born swimmer is best known for winning five individual medals in one championships – a British record – when she took two golds, two silvers and a bronze medal at the European Championships in 2010. She went on to survive a severe bout of Delhi belly at the Commonwealth Games last year – famously all colour drained from her face and she looked as though she was about to pass out when interviewed by Sharron Davies for the BBC – but she somehow repeated the five-medal feat and returned home triumphant. Widely tipped as the next Rebecca Adlington, she is currently ranked second in the world in the 100m freestyle – having lost her No1 ranking by just one 100th of a second to Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands last month – she is also 9th in the world in the 50m freestyle. Halsall faces competition from Heemskerk who has won Olympic and world titles in the 4x100m freestyle relay but has so far struggled to win an individual title, but equally from the Australian Alicia Coutts who took three gold medals at the Commonwealth Games last year. Halsall is currently studying for an A-level in philosophy; her boyfriend, Alastair Wilson, plays hockey for the men's Great Britain team.

James Goddard is ranked third in the world in the 200m IM. Photograph: Adam Pretty/Getty Images

Born in the Seychelles, Goddard moved to Stockport aged five and began swimming at his local club. Having finished fourth in the 200m backstroke at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, Goddard appeared full of promise. But frustrating results over the next few years – finishing sixth at the Beijing Olympics and sixth at the 2009 World Championships, both results in the 200m IM – dogged his progress until, finally, he broke through again last year to win two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in the 200m IM and 200m backstroke. An eight-year gap between his first Commonwealth medal in 2002, and his most recent in 2010, tells its own story. Ranked third in the world in the 200m IM, he will need to fight Michael Phelps for the world title, as well as Thiago Pereira of Brazil. He is ranked sixth in the world in the 200m backstroke. The World Championships aside, he is desperate to produce a final flourish at the Olympics next year. "I want an Olympic medal in London," says Goddard. "I have finished fourth and sixth in Olympics so far."

Hannah Miley just missed out on a medal at the last World Championships in Rome in 2009 when she finished fourth. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Sporting success has long been in the Miley family. Patrick Miley, Hannah's father and coach (as well as helicopter pilot) swam for the army during his youth as well as competing in triathlons, while Miley's aunt was a world champion in Irish dance. Hannah, who is based in Aberdeen, says she would have been a Highland dancer had swimming not taken her life by storm. Ranked third in the world in the 400m IM – an event in which she won both the Commonwealth and short-course European titles last year – Miley just missed out on a medal at the last World Championships in Rome in 2009 when she finished fourth. This year she has continued her run of form, beating Kirsty Coventry – an Olympic silver medallist in both of Miley's preferred events – in Monaco last month. Her main competitors in the 400m IM in Shanghai will be Spain's Mireia Belmonte and Li Xuanxu of China.

Lizzie Simmonds' best achievements have been finishing fifth at the World Championships in 2009 and sixth at the Olympics aged 17. Photograph: Paul Thomas/Action Images

Yet to win a major individual medal, Simmonds' best achievements have been finishing fifth at the World Championships in 2009 and sixth at the Olympics aged 17. The Loughborough-based swimmer has a European 4x100m medley gold medal to her name having swum in the heats, but is keen to move her individual career on to the next level. Simmonds is ranked third in the world in the 200m backstroke, and sixth in the 100m, quite an achievement considering her better known team-mate – the 100m defending world champion and world record holder Gemma Spofforth – is 18th. Her major rival in Shanghai will be the defending champion and multi-gold medal winner Kirsty Coventry, but Belinda Hocking of Australia who currently leads the world rankings will also provide a strong challenge.

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