"Momentum attracts athletes": Tom Dean eyes future glory after making Stirling switch

Credit: Jeff Holmes / University of Stirling.

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Olympic champion Tom Dean has said he’s attracted by ‘momentum’ and the prospect of winning more international medals after leaving Bath’s Performance Centre for the University of Stirling’s Swim Programme.

Dean is one of several high-profile swimmers to have joined Scotland’s Centre of Sporting Excellence in recent months as he bids to put himself in the equation for medals at next summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and possibly even the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

The 25-year-old from Maidenhead is already a triple Olympic champion having won two gold medals in the 200m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay at Tokyo 2021 before winning gold in the same relay event at Paris 2024 alongside one of his new stable mates Duncan Scott.

He will now train with the likes of Scott - one of his big rivals for medals in recent years - Ollie Carter and Kathleen Dawson, while fellow Olympic champion Freya Anderson MBE has also made the switch to Stirling in recent months,

Tom was joined on campus this week by the new World Junior Champion Dean Fearn, who joins the university from Aberdeen Dolphin Swimming Club.

They will train under the watchful eye of head performance coach Ben Higson and high-performance coach Bradley Hay - whose athletes include Olympic champions Duncan Scott OBE and Jack McMillan.

Tom said: “I’m really excited to join the programme here in Stirling – there’s a great calibre of athletes here and some very close friends of mine as well.

“I had spent seven years at Bath, and I enjoyed working with coach Dave McNulty, who led me to three Olympic gold medals and multiple World and Commonwealth medals too. But, where I am in terms of my career and personal life, I needed a change. I know Duncan [Scott] and Ben [Higson] really well, and I know a lot of the team too – so Stirling was a logical choice.

“Momentum attracts athletes, but also coaches and personalities do too. You just have to look at the medal board above the pool here, showing all the athletes from over the years – the number of medals continues to grow and grow. That’s testament to the programme here.”

The Maidenhead athlete specialises in freestyle but has attempted a more diverse range of events in recent seasons. This led to him becoming Team England’s most decorated athlete at a single Games as he scooped one gold and six silver medals at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.

He was made a Member of the British Empire in 2022, after that record haul of medals in Birmingham and his Olympic success in Tokyo the previous year. He hopes that training alongside the likes of Scott - who he pipped to gold in Tokyo - and under some of the best coaches in the world will lead him back to the top of the podium in international events over the coming years.

Scott is Scotland’s most decorated Olympian and Commonwealth athlete of all time.

“Duncan and I are such close friends, but also such close competitors. We have a relationship where there is a degree of healthy competitiveness – and I think that’s rare. We work well together – we’ve shown that when we’ve travelled to training camps together, been shoulder to shoulder in the relay, winning at the Olympics, and when we’ve gone head-to-head in individual events as well.

“First and foremost, he’s a great friend of mine and that will always come before everything else – that’s why I know we’ll have a good working relationship over the next four years.”

He added: “I’m really excited about being part of this new group, with a new coach, and being part of a centre that has great momentum behind it. LA 2028 is the ultimate goal – I want to go there and, like everyone else, add more medals to my CV. Of course, we also have the Commonwealth Games just 10 months away and that’s my priority for this season.”

Ben Higson, Head Performance Swim Coach at the University of Stirling, said: “I am delighted to welcome Tom Dean and Dean Fearn to the programme here at Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence. Tom has achieved a great deal in the pool to date – including winning three Olympic gold medals – and his talent and experience is a great addition to the group as we prepare for next year’s Commonwealth Games and begin the cycle for Los Angeles 2028.”

David Bond, Head of Performance Sport at the University of Stirling, said: “The high-performance swim programme continues to go from strength to strength, attracting top athletes from across the UK and beyond. Under the leadership of Ben and his team, the programme continues to set the standard in the pool, developing talent and preparing our athletes to realise their potential and compete at the highest levels of their sport.”