FEARLESS – Team GB’s teen swim star Amelie Blocksidge is in it for the long haul

Still only 17, Amelie Blocksidge has been winning long-distance races for a long time, frequently lapping competitors. The upcoming Commonwealth Games is a different story, though, as she will make her Games debut facing aces from Australia and New Zealand. And with the LA 2028 Olympics the next huge meet on the horizon, there is also the prospect of coming up against one of her swimming idols, Katie Ledecky.

The teen swim star speaks to me from her home about everything from sibling rivalry and Salford to growing pains, with her hugely supportive mum, Nicola, sitting a couple of yards away and occasionally chipping in. They are both in it for the long haul…

Yes, Amelie Blocksidge enjoys competing, but she loves winning even more. In 2024 she won the GB Aquatics Emerging Athlete of the Year Award (below, left). That same year she grabbed gold at the European Juniors in the pool in both 1500m and 800m freestyle, plus the European Junior 5km Open Water, as well as becoming British Champion, again in the 1500m and 800m, along with British Winter Nationals Champion in the same events.

She broke the British and English Junior Records in 400m, 800m and 1500m, and was selected for the World Short Course Championships senior team aged just 15. Whether in open water or in the pool, Blocksidge is up for the challenge, as she tells me in a wide-ranging conversation…

How did you land on the 1500m and the 800m? Were you ever tempted to try other swimming styles or lengths?

I used to do a load of events when I was younger.

In 2022 at the Nationals, I think I won the 1500, 200 fly, 400 IM (individual medley), 400 free and 800 free.

So I had to pick between them.

But I’ve always been the best at 1500. So I just went for that one.

I just always wanted to do that from when I was younger.

That’s quite something to decide to do when you’re young, because it’s almost a marathon for swimmers, isn’t it?

Yeah, I basically just used to copy my sister at things, to be honest.

She swam distance, so I just assumed I’d be good at it.

Is she a couple of years older?

Yeah, she’s in uni now.

Also, in lockdown, we used to do a lot of open water swimming because the pools were shut.

So maybe that had a bit of an influence on it.

You mention your sister; does that mean your entire family is competitive at everything?

When you’re playing board games or just running to the bus… are you always competitive?

Yeah. It’s a bit of an argument when we’re trying to play games.

[Mum] Amelie doesn’t like to lose even at board games.

You also tried gymnastics, dancing, football, horse riding when you were younger… even though you’re young now.

So what made swimming come out on top?

I just liked that the most. I was also good at gymnastics, but I wasn’t as good as I was at swimming, and I also just loved swimming.

And we had a little friend group when we were younger, which is really nice, and I just preferred it.

I don’t know why, it’s just funner.

Did you have a pool at school?

No, but we have pools around Salford, and there’s one quite near to our house.

So was your first introduction to swimming your sister doing it?

Well, swimming lessons.

I had lessons just to swim.

What age were you then?

About three or four, just the normal sort of age you go.

Your mum was just throwing you in. I can imagine it…

[Mum] You know what?

It’s funny because her sister used to be scared of the water when she was little.

And Amelie never was.

And I don’t think it’s because she had an older sister.

Amelie was fearless.

We went on holiday when she was one, and she’d just jump in.

So what makes you love swimming now?

Because presumably it can be a bit of a grind when you have to do so many practices a week. What makes you love it?

I actually quite like the routine of it.

I like knowing that after college or something, I have swimming.

And I like to see all my friends when I’m there as well.

I just find it fun.

Is it a different set of friends when you go swimming than the ones you have at school?

Well, not in college.

I had different friends in high school to swimming, but now I’ve gone into college, all my friends from high school are at a different college, so my friends are at my college basically.

That’s interesting because when you think of swimming, it’s an individual sport apart from relays, you don’t think of it as that one where you’re bonding, but obviously you are because you’re in a swimming club?

Yeah, and we have to train with all the other people so it’s not that I don’t think it is an individual sport, but there’s people helping you and stuff, so you’re not really by yourself.

Women in rugby and football say the same thing, maybe they’re studying or in a job. But the whole time they’re looking forward to meeting up with their mates, who are friends for life.

Yeah, I’m not particularly great at swimming by myself, to be honest, training by myself.

I have one certain friend that I share the lane with every session.

If I’m not sharing with her, then I find it a bit boring sometimes, especially because I’m doing the longer sets.

I’ll be swimming up and down for two hours and it’s hard to do by yourself.

I don’t know if this is possible, but can you chat with this friend when you’re doing that?

Yeah, because we’ll do certain things and we’ll have reps.

We’d do something then we’d have a rest for 20 seconds and we’ll do something again, and we have time to talk at the wall.

Tell me about working with the coach John Stout, and also why you chose the city of Salford.

My sister Ella was there.

[Mum] The City of Salford is quite a different club. A lot of swimming clubs around the country are either private swimming clubs or they’re linked to a university or a performance centre or a school like Repton or Millfield.

So our club is basically a club that’s run by the local authority.

It’s called City of Salford and it’s run by the City of Salford.

The reason why that club was chosen is because when you do your swimming lessons in what’s called Learn to Swim with City of Salford in one of their leisure pools, you move up through all the stages.

And when then you get to level seven, essentially people either say: okay, I can swim now, or they want to join the club, then you go into the academy for Salford.

John is employed by the city of Salford Leisure, for the community.

So it’s quite unique in that respect in that it’s not like some clubs are elite, where you just go up the stages basically.

Whereas this club is almost like the grassroots football.

So you join and start on the lowest level.

Then obviously, as you improve, you move up the levels.

John is the head coach, so he teaches the top group.

There’s quite a few coaches there?

I started working with John in 2022.

Then you have the swimming teachers for the younger ones.

Then in academy, you have John’s son.

Then the level above that is John’s other son.

Then above that there’s another coach, and then there’s John for the top group.

You said you really like the routine. So can you tell me how often and when you train?

So I do a double on Monday, a double on Tuesday.

Then I have Wednesday off.

Then I do a double on Thursday and then I just do Friday night and then Saturday morning, then Sunday off.

When you say morning, is that fairly early?

Monday morning is 8.30am til 10.30am, but Tuesday and Thursday morning, 5.15am til 6.45am.

I can’t even conceive of that. And what time in the evening, after college?

Yeah, it’s 4.30pm til 6.30pm, pretty much.

I guess if you’re swimming first thing and last thing, then presumably you’re good at your routine in terms of sleeping and working?

Yeah, I do have a bit of a specific routine.

I come home, have my tea, have a shower, then I’m in bed by a certain time.

And I know what time I need to leave the gym and stuff like that.

Do you do have to do quite a lot of gym work as well?

I have upped my gym work a bit this year, but I still need to do a bit more.

I’m just going to start some new things now.

I need to build up my strength basically, so I’m going to do a bit more gym work.

Is that weights?

Yeah, and sometimes some cardio.

[Mum] So basically, what happens is while she was still growing, I think it’s important not to do too much gym, because obviously it can have a long-lasting impact.

So what they’ve done is really try to hold her back, just to make sure that it’s the right thing for her.

Now that she’s stopped growing… they’re going to start off with body weight things.

So she’s not going to be lifting heavy, probably two or three sessions a week, half an hour, so not a lot.

And for you, Amelie, what’s the difference between open water swimming and indoor swimming? Which do you prefer and why?

I prefer normal swimming in a pool, in your own lane, and it’s shorter distances.

But in open water, you’re all put on a pontoon.

You dive in on top of each other, and swim on top of each other… and fight, basically.

And just swim in the sea around a course for either 5K or 10K.

And I guess you’ve got currents and things as well, haven’t you?

Yeah, it’s also kind of wavy.

The further you are from the coast, it gets a bit more choppy.

What’s the best place you’ve done open water swimming?

I think Corfu in Greece.

Gosh, you lucky thing.

It was really clear.

[Mum] it was European juniors, wasn’t it… and she won!

You missed out on Paris 2024. But you’ve qualified for the Commonwealth Games, is that right?

I’m actually not supposed to tell anyone…

You got the time, didn’t you?

[Mum] So the way that it works is just because you get the time doesn’t mean that you’re going to qualify.

For Paris, it’s an actual qualifying time.

So if you get the time, you’re guaranteed to go.

The Commonwealth Games was what they call a consideration time.

So if you don’t get it, then you won’t be going.

But if you do get it, it doesn’t guarantee a spot.

Because if a lot of people get the consideration times, then they basically have to pick.

The team’s only got 28 people on it.

So yeah, not everyone that gets the consideration time for the Commonwealth Games gets to go.

Which is an interesting fact.

That seems a bit harsh.

Yeah.

What do you think your chances are in Scotland if you get in the Commonwealth Games team?

It’s a tough one, isn’t it?

It’s hard.

I mean, I’m the only distance swimmer, so hopefully I’ll have a higher chance, but I would love to go and if I was to, I’d be doing the 1500 and 800.

[Mum] So basically, obviously it’s a senior competition and she’s only a junior.

Junior is 18 and under and she’s just turned 17. So obviously most of the athletes there, if not all, are full-time.

They don’t do college, work, anything.

All they do is swim, train, rest, repeat.

So you will have some of the best athletes in the world.

And currently, there’s an Australian called Lani Pallister.

Okay, and is there anyone else apart from Lani that we should look out for?

I can’t name them, but there’s a few.

There’s some people from New Zealand maybe.

[Mum] The Australians are bringing a massive team over, our team’s got 28; they’ve got 70.

And there’s usually good Canadians too as far as I remember.

[Mum] Yeah, you’ve got you’ve got some good Australians, and they’re traditionally the ones that are good at distance. The Australians are always good, the Canadians are always really good, the New Zealanders are always really good.

So if she swims well on the day, she should hopefully be in the top six, seven or eight. Which is not bad for someone who should only be swimming in the junior competitions.

Looking ahead when you are a couple of years older, I presume LA 2028 is your next big target?

Yeah, it is. Whether that I’ll be in the pool or open water, I don’t know.

But I want to try and work to get there.

I think I’ll have to drop some time off my PB.

I hope I can go there.

Nearly all athletes who do a sport like yours are quite self-critical, and I wonder if there’s things in your technique that you’re trying to smooth or tweak to get those marginal gains they always talk about.

Because I do distance swimming, you could take off a little tiny bit on each 50 metres and then you’d drop so much time.

So I think trying to build up strength in my stroke, so it’s a bit more efficient and powerful.

Also, I’ve been saying this for a while, but I have improved my turns a lot.

But I think I still got some more work to do with that.

Try and do that and then hopefully I can shave off a bit of time.

Do you mean, when you turn, staying under before you come up again, a bit longer, or pushing off better?

Yeah. Both, to be honest.

If I can get my legs stronger, then I’ll have a better push off, then if I can get my core stronger, I’ll have better fly kicks, stuff like that.

This might seem like a silly question, but because you’re so far ahead of a lot of the girls your age, do you ever compete against lads to push yourself even further?

Yeah, I do train against some of the boys.

In a competition where I actually got my PB, it was close to my house, wasn’t a big major competition.

And it was a mixed 1500, so it was me in a heat of boys.

And I was racing as a boy.

And how did you get on?

So I got my PB.

He went 0.1 quicker than me or something, so we were in a head-to-head until the end.

That’s pretty darn good…

So in LA there’s going to be open water as well?

Yeah, they showed us the venue, but I can’t remember the name.

Some people have talked about you in the same breath as Katie Ledecky and I wonder is there any chance she’ll come back and be at LA do you think?

Katie Ledecky… Yes, she is doing LA because obviously it’s a home games for her, isn’t it?

Someone just said she’s doing 2032 as well, which is just crazy…

That’s nuts, though.

I know.

[Mum] But she still set a new world record, didn’t she last year?

Does she do open water as well as the 1500 and 800 or…

No. One of the Americans told me last week they tried to get her into open water and she was like: no way!

So is it just the 1500 she’ll be up against you?

Yeah, and the 800.

Well, it would be amazing to be up against somebody you presumably grew up looking up to?

Yeah.

Is she somebody that you slightly idolise?

Yeah, definitely.

I mean, she’s the best female distance swimmer ever, really, isn’t she?

So, yeah, I want to be like her someday, I guess.

Are there any other sportswomen who play different sports who you admire?

Yeah, Keely Hodgkinson ((above, right).

She’s quite local to me.

I think she’s cool.

Is there anyone else in athletics you like?

At the Olympics, I think she was the only athletics thing I watched…

Oh, and her teammate called Georgia [Hunter Bell], so I like watching those two.

Do you ever watch the triathlon? I think you’d be good at that if you can cycle as well.

I haven’t watched it, but I hear a lot about it.

But I don’t think I’d be good at the running.

What about team sports?

No, I’m not really into football.

Any other team sports you like?

No, actually, I don’t really watch any of it to be honest.

[Mum] So you know what’s quite funny?

You don’t even watch a lot of swimming, you just love to swim, don’t you?

Other than that, I’m not really interested.

Apart from your coach John and your mum, who are the other people who’ve helped and mentored you?

My granddad takes me to swimming a lot.

He takes me on Tuesday nights and he helps out where he can.

And also Aquatics GB help me with all the stuff that they give me.

They’ve gave me an extra session on a Monday morning to go train with Manchester.

And they give me the funding, obviously, to financially help.

Aquatics GB help because they take me on a few camps.

Obviously they pay for everything when we go away to European juniors and World Champs, stuff like that.

My sister Ella sometimes helps, because when we were at the Aquatics GB swimming thing, John had to go home because he was ill. So she came poolside and helped me, when I was getting ready for my race.

[Mum] You spent all your younger years, didn’t you, watching Ella swim?

Because you can’t compete until you’re nine years old.

So, when her sister was competing, Amelie obviously had to come with me.

She had to watch.

And your sister’s a good swimmer; she won a national title.

Great. So apart from Katie Ledecky, which other people do you admire in distance racing?

I admire Lani Pallister (above, left); she’s been quite a threat to Katie Ledecky recently and she’s really nice.

I’ve spoken to her a few times and she’s really fast.

I’m guessing the Commonwealth Games and LA are your next, immediate ambitions?

Yeah, definitely.

And obviously, some world champs, things like that on the way.

Do you have any ambition you would like to achieve in your career overall?

Yeah, I mean, in a few years I want an Olympic medal, and… yeah, I want a British record.

So for the British record, is there a time you’ve got in mind?

Yeah, I think the British record’s 15.45, so I have a bit of a long way to go…

Do you prefer winning a race or breaking a record?

Oh, I don’t know. It depends what I’m winning.

But then it depends on breaking as well.

But say we’re at the Olympics, and I got a British record, but I got fourth place.

I reckon I’d be pretty annoyed.

Ah, you’d rather get a bronze and not break it…

And do you prefer to come from behind in a race or get out front and just take it?

I think sometimes I do better when I’m behind because I’m quite a good chaser.

But I also like it at the front when I go out faster because then I can control the race.

So I can see everyone behind me.

If someone’s trying to catch me up, I can respond to that and I’ll speed up.

Can you look up – like athletes do in a stadium – and see on the screen how close people are behind you?

In certain venues I can. But I often just look when I’m underwater.

Also I can see them when I’m turning, when I’m looking and when I’m breathing to the side.

So far in your career, what have been the best and worst things?

Ooh, the best thing is winning European juniors and British champs. Then I’ve got loads of British age group records and then I think at the world short course champs I got seventh. I got sixth place in the final, but seventh overall – aged 14.

Have you had any lows or setbacks?

Yeah, I mean I didn’t get close to my PB for a while, and then I went to the British Champs and I went to a time that I didn’t think I probably should have when I wanted to get to Singapore.

And also not being selected for teams when I wanted to be selected.

It’s obviously a bit disappointing as well.

And how do you deal with pressure? Because there is a lot of pressure in sport.

When I’m nervous I always go fast because of all the adrenaline and stuff so I just try and think about that. But this year I’ve really tried to think about how much and how hard I’ve trained for it, and I’ve given it everything and there’s nothing else I could do.

The race is just what it’s going to be and that’s the easy bit really.

I’ve done all the training for it, so it should all go to plan.

Are you able to take the way you handle pressure in your swimming to when you’re studying? So if you’re sitting in exam, are you good at dealing with pressure there?

Yeah, I mean, because of how nervous I get when I swim, I don’t really care about school and stuff.

In an exam, I just feel there’s not as much pressure.

I’ve got nothing to lose, I feel.

What subjects are you studying?

I’m doing business and sport and criminology.

When you were going through puberty and stuff, was that quite a challenge for you?

Yeah, in 2024, I had a lot of time off in the summer; we had a break.

I got back in the pool and my feet went from a size six to a size nine.

And my hands grew a lot.

Oh, the hands, that’s useful, isn’t it, for swimming?

Yeah, but also when I first got in and my hands were really big, it was quite hard for me.

Because obviously when your hands are big and you’re trying to pull through the water, you don’t have enough strength in your shoulder, stuff like that.

So I did struggle when I came back, but I think I’m adapting to it now.

Are you the sort of person who’s got a lot of self-belief and confidence?

Yeah, I mean, I don’t have it in the front of my mind, but I think I have it in the back of my mind.

In the races, you can kind of tell that.

Because I don’t like to get too overly confident when I’m going into a race, because obviously anything can happen, but I’m confident in the training and the hard work I’ve been putting in.

Was it a shock when you started competing, not just against juniors, but against seniors as well?

Yeah, to be honest, it’s really different because you go from age group nationals to open nationals and you’re racing against full-time swimmers and people at uni, and then I’m still there in high school.

So sometimes I do think I’m a bit disadvantaged in that, but then it also makes me think like I’ve got a lot more to come.

How do you feel when you’re swimming?

If I’ve had a long day, I like just going in and being by myself for a bit, do you know what I mean?

I enjoy my own company.

Can you empty your head of everything, or do you have things going around in your head when you’re swimming?

You know, I can’t empty my head, but then also if I’m annoyed about a situation, I can think about that. I can’t really put my finger on it, to be honest.

I can sense it when you’re speaking about it, your face lights up.

There’s obviously a joy you get from doing it, and you also bring joy to people like your mum.

[Mum] I think it is just a thing that you love to do, isn’t it?

There was always a joke in our house that if her sister Ella had been naughty and I wanted to punish her, I’d take her phone off her and that would really upset her.

If I wanted to punish Emily, if she was ever naughty, which she wasn’t very often, I would tell her she wasn’t going to swimming.

Then she’d be absolutely distraught.

I could take her phone off her; she wouldn’t be bothered.

The only thing that she’d be bothered about is missing swimming.

Finally, Amelie, do you as a swimmer, have a nickname?

A nickname? Well, one of the swim mums used to call me Duracell. You know, the batteries.

Photos: Nicola Blocksidge, Helen M Jerome, Kees-Jan van Overbeeke, Instagram

Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2026 run from July 23 to August 2. TNT will be showing events live, Channel 5 will show daily highlights.

Watch Amelie Blocksidge swim in the 1500m on July 26^th, and in the 800m on July 28^th.