James Guy (swimmer)

Career

A prodigious junior, Guy was educated at Millfield School Guy won his first major medal at the 2012 European Junior Championships in Antwerp where he finished in the bronze medal position in the 400m freestyle.

In his breakthrough season in 2013, he won three medals at the World Junior Championships in Dubai, landing silver over 200m and 400m Freestyle then anchoring the British quartet to 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay gold in a Championship record. He followed that up with double gold (200m Freestyle, 4 × 200 m Freestyle) at his second European Junior Championships in Poznan.

He made his senior international debut at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, lowering his British Age Group record (17 yrs) to finish fifth in the 400m Freestyle, then setting another British Age Group record (17 yrs) as the lead-off in the 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay as the British quartet finished seventh. James became the European and World Junior Champion in the 4x200 and holds the Word Junior Record in those Events.

2014–15

He came to senior prominence in 2014, Guy laid down a signal of intent with a hat-trick of golds at the British Gas Swimming Championships, taking the touch in the 200m Free, 400m Free and 200m Fly, and breaking the British record in the 400m Free. He represented England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, winning two relay medals, lowering the British record again to claim 400m Freestyle bronze for England. Thereafter, representing Great Britain, he took silver medals in the 400-metre freestyle at the FINA World Championships in both the short course (25 metre) and long course formats. On 4 August 2015, he won the 200-metre freestyle at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, the first British swimmer to win the event in its history.

He competed for England in the 4x100-metre medley relay and the 400-metre freestyle events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where he won a gold and bronze medal respectively.

At the 200-metre freestyle event at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, Guy won the gold medal beating Olympic silver medallist Sun Yang of China by six hundredths of a second.

At the same event, Guy struck gold again in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. Team GB was third at the last take over, when Guy took over. He swam his 200 in a 1:44.7, the quickest time across the pool and securing Great Britain the Gold medal for the first time at the worlds in this event.

2016 Olympics

At the Rio Olympics in 2016, he won silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay with Stephen Milne, Duncan Scott, and Dan Wallace, and a further silver in the 4x100m medley relay with Chris Walker-Hebborn, Adam Peaty and Duncan Scott. He came fourth in the individual 200m freestyle event.

2017

In February 2017 Guy, alongside coach Jol Fincke, moved his training base to the National Centre for Swimming at the University of Bath.

At the 2017 World Aquatics Championships. Guy won gold in the 4x200m freestyle with Duncan Scott, Stephen Milne and Nick Grainger in a time of seven minutes 1.70 seconds. He shared the 100m butterfly bronze with Joseph Schooling of Singapore, both recording a time of 50.83 seconds. In the 4x100m medley relay, he again won silver with the same Olympic line-up of Walker-Hebborn, Peaty and Scott.