Katie Shanahan talks British Record and first solo European Title

Welcome onto the podcast this week, Katie Shanahan, new European champion, new British record holder.

Um, you've had a very, very busy summer.

But before we get to the swimming, have you managed to relax properly?

Yes, I have, which has been really nice.

We've...

We're still on our break now, but we will have had three weeks off by the time we come back on Monday.

So yeah, it's just really nice to just kind of switch off after the summer.

Um, like you said, it was really busy, kind of going back to back international competitions.

It's not what we usually do in a typical season, so it was a bit different, but it was fun.

I really enjoyed it actually.

But yeah, it's nice to just be at home now and just take a weight off something and not have to think about, not have to think about it for a while.

[laughs] How would you sum up your summer in the water in a, in a couple of words?

Um, surprising.

I'd definitely say that.

I wasn't expecting at all to do as well as I did, so I guess that was, that was a nice surprise.

Um, I think at the Commonwealth Games, obviously going in it was home crowd and stuff, and it was just so amazing.

Honestly, like that whole week I look back with very, very fond memories, and it will definitely be a career highlight of mine when I'm finished swimming.

Um, I think just racing in front of that home crowd, it was, um, it was so special, and I knew so many people that were there and there were so many people that bought tickets to come and watch me, which I was so grateful for.

And yeah, just racing in front of those people was, um, so special 'cause I don't really ever get to do that.

So yeah, to do that was pretty cool.

Obviously coming with the two silver medals as well, which was nice.

And then to back that up again at the Europeans to obviously do one set better, the gold, and then get that British record that I've definitely had my eye on for a long time, um-

[laughs]

... was a nice reward.

Okay.