Swimming: James Gibson takes over as sprint coach

Published on 30/10/2012 03:21

Former 50-metres breaststroke world champion James Gibson has been appointed as the interim sprint coach at Loughborough, British Swimming have announced.

The 32-year-old has been in Marseille for six years, as both a swimmer and a coach, and his role will begin on 3 December with Ben Titley having left Loughborough after 16 years for Canada. During his time heading up the sprint programme at the CN Marseille club, athletes under Gibson’s guidance won 19 international medals including gold in the 50m freestyle by Florent Manaudou at the 2012 Olympics.

He has also been part of the Dutch coaching team since 2010, guiding the women’s sprint freestyle relay squad to two world titles as well as Olympic silver.

National performance director Michael Scott identified men’s freestyle sprinting as an area that needed attention earlier this year, his concern borne out in London when the sprint relay failed to make the Olympic final and Adam Brown was the only representative in the 50m and 100m free events, coming 20th in both.