KATIE SHANAHAN may be a relative newcomer to top class senior swimming events, but the calmness and improvement the Glasgow teenager has shown during 2021 means she is heading into the FINA World Short Course Championships in a positive mood.

The event runs from Thursday to December 21 in Abu Dhabi and the 17-year-old Bishopbriggs Academy S6 pupil is one of three Scots in the 13-strong British team, along with Lucy Hope and Duncan Scott.

Many in swimming circles knew of Shanahan’s burgeoning talent well before this year, after all she won six medals at the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku.

However, the last few months have seen her exposed more to competing and training alongside top senior swimmers and she has more than held her own as she continues to make her way in the sport.

“I took a lot of confidence and a lot of learnings from competing at the junior European Championships and then the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2019 and I was ready to kick on into 2020 when the pandemic hit,” Shanahan says.

“I was out of the water for a few months at that point and it was quite tough, but I did a lot of cardio and gym work and I tried to take the positives, doing a lot of running and cycling that I wouldn’t normally have done as well as taking a step back and re-focusing my goals. Luckily I was classed as an elite athlete so in the summer of 2020 I was able to get back to proper training.

“For quite a spell I was based at the University of Stirling, and training alongside the likes of Duncan Scott, Kathleen Dawson and Cassie Wild really helped me take things to the next level. You can learn so much just by watching how they train and how they conduct themselves, so by the time the start of this calendar year came around I was ready to push on further.”

Shanahan was then selected to be part of the British senior team that went to the European Championships in Budapest in June, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Adam Peaty and co before they went to the Olympics.

That experience meant she went to July’s junior European Championships on a high and came back from that meet in Rome with two golds, three silvers, and one bronze.

Since then she has competed for London Roar in the International Swimming League.

“It has been a whirlwind year, but one that I have really enjoyed and I feel all of the experiences since June in Budapest have made me realise that I do deserve to be competing at this level. Abu Dhabi is now the next step on the journey,” she says

So where did Shanahan’s love of swimming come from?

“I was in the water from the age of two or three and whenever they would ask for parents and children to do demonstrations in the baby and toddler classes apparently my mum would always volunteer and just get me in the water with no fear, so my love of swimming must have started then,” she says. “Then I joined the Scotia club in Glasgow and there I started racing around age five or six, before moving to City of Glasgow when I was around nine.

“I have been with City of Glasgow since then and so many coaches and other people at the club have helped me with my development.

“My mum has driven me to training – 5.30am starts and all! – and all over Britain for swimming meets for many years so I must give her huge credit while my school have also been really accommodating in helping me fit things around my swimming.

“I was racing from a young age and I think that has meant that I have always been competitive and wanted to get better whenever I can. That desire to get to the wall first has never changed and I am excited about what the future holds.”