Mildred hopes to emulate housemate Dean in Paris

Ed Mildred will be sharing a flat with Olympic champion Tom Dean next year and hopes to emulate his training partner’s meteoric rise at Paris 2024.

The Northampton star dipped his toe in senior swimming last year, graduating from the junior circuit with three Commonwealth and two European medals.

Dean hadn’t won a global medal of any description before gold on Olympic debut in Tokyo, a steep trajectory to the top that Mildred is hoping to emulate.

“I would be going into my first Olympics at the same age as Tom was,” said the 19-year-old.

“He’s proven how quickly things can change in the sport of swimming and I’m hoping to be another one of those people who can shake things up.

“I can take a lot of encouragement and confidence from the people around me.”

Mildred is expecting Dean to be a clean and tidy flatmate, as well as a regular golf partner alongside James Guy and Jacob Peters.

The quartet train under Dave McNulty at the British Swimming Performance Centre in Bath.

McNulty, named Team GB Coach of the Year in 2021, has guided swimmers onto the Olympic podium at every Games since Beijing 2008.

Mildred upped sticks from his lifelong base in Northampton to the south-west with designs on working with McNulty, who has encouraged him to focus on 100m events due to his natural explosiveness.

“Dave knows what he’s doing, he proved it with Tom and he’s got the accolades behind him to prove he’s a very good coach,” said Mildred.

“Dave is very honest with you. He won’t boost you up too much, he’ll be straight with you and he’s very good at reading characters in and out of the pool. Very much a father figure.

“I used to do 400s and 200s but as I’ve grown older, my body has shifted to the 100 and Dave was very quick to recognise that.”

Mildred is focusing on the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly at the upcoming British Swimming Championships, to be staged at Sheffield’s iconic Ponds Forge.

The flagship domestic swimming event is a key trial event for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan and the next step on the road to Paris for Mildred.

“I’m feeling good ahead of Champs,” he said. “Training is tapering off now and we’re all on the edge, ready to go.

“I just want to put in very, very good swims. We only have to deliver a handful of times in a year but you have to perform well in those moments.

“The target for me is to make that World Championships team, it’s a tough team to make and the qualifying times are tough but a personal best should get me on that team.”

Tickets are still available for the British Swimming Championships in Sheffield (4th-9th April). Head over to The Ticket Factory to secure yours - or watch all the action from every session on the British Swimming YouTube channel.