The versatile Siobhan-Marie O’Connor is certainly no stranger to the big occasion and she arrives in Glasgow with plenty of experience she will be hoping to put to good use.
She may only be 23-years-old but O’Connor has already enjoyed a sterling international career, scooping Olympic silver in Rio in the 200m Individual Medley after claiming her maiden World Championship medals in Kazan the previous year.
The precocious hotshot claimed gold and bronze in the 4x100m Mixed Medley Relay and the 200m Individual Medley respectively in the Russian water, laying the foundations for a meteoric rise that continues to intensify year on year.
O’Connor also won golds in the 200m Individual Medley at both the Glasgow and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018, adding to the two 4x100m Medley Relay first-places – one in the mixed and one in the women’s – she achieved at the 2016 European Championships in London.
And she achieved all this while living with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease that saw her almost give up swimming when she was diagnosed with the condition shortly after London 2012.
O’Connor has particularly fond memories of Glasgow, picking up an impressive haul of six medals at the venue in the 2014 Commonwealth Games to delight an adoring Scottish crowd.
And she extended her success north of the border at the European Championships in 2018, winning bronze in the 4x100m Medley Relay in addition to fourth and fifth place finishes in the 200m Individual Medley and 100m Breaststroke.
Domestic glory has also been high on O’Connor’s agenda in the Glasgow water, as she won seven medals in the city across the three British Championships there between 2014 and 2019.
The Bath-born star triumphed in the 200m Individual Medley earlier this year, building on her trio of glories in 2016 – 200m Individual Medley, 100m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle – and her golds in the 200m Freestyle and Individual Medley events in 2014.
So, as the highly-decorated young star prepares to grace one of her most fondly-remembered pools once again, she will be doing so with every hope that her experience will serve her well for the LEN European Short Course Championships.
Follow Siobhan on social
Twitter – @SiobhanMOConnor
Instagram – @siobhanmoconnor95
Short Course Personal Bests
100m Freestyle – 52.98
200m Freestyle – 1:53.82
100m Breaststroke – 1:05.07
100m Butterfly – 55.93
100m Individual Medley – 57.59
200m Individual Medley – 2:05.13
Fun Fact – O’Connor missed her school prom in order to compete in the qualifying meet for London 2012 – where she would go on to race as a mere 16-year-old and finish eighth in the 4x100m Medley Relay.