Benjamin Proud was born on 21 September 1994 and is an English competitive swimmer, representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games, the FINA World Aquatics Championships and LEN European Aquatics Championships, and England at the Commonwealth Games.
26 Facts About Ben Proud
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Ben Proud is the 2022 World Champion in the 50 metre freestyle, his second long course world title.
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Ben Proud is the 2017 world champion in the 50-metre butterfly.
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Ben Proud is only the third male swimmer to be simultaneously short-course and long-course World Champion at 50 metre freestyle, after Cesar Cielo and Florent Manaudou.
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Ben Proud holds two British national records, as well as being a double Commonwealth Games champion in both the 50 m butterfly and 50 m freestyle events.
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Ben Proud was European Champion over 50 metres freestyle in 2018 and 2022, and was part of the 4 x 100 medley team from Great Britain which won European gold in 2014.
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Ben Proud was born in London on 21 September 1994 to Nic and Sally Ben Proud.
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Ben Proud attended the Alice Smith School from kindergarten until year 12 of the school.
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Ben Proud was coached by Jon Rudd at the Plymouth Leander Swimming Programme in England, before he moved to train at the Energy Standard International Swim Club in Turkey in 2017.
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Ben Proud won a silver medal in the 50 m butterfly -his strongest event- in the European Junior Championships, which put him on the map as the fastest British sprinter at the British Gas International Meet in 2013, winning a gold in the butterfly, and going on later to win a silver in the 50 m freestyle in Leeds.
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Ben Proud went on the break his personal best times for the 50 m and 100 m freestyle events, earning himself a silver and bronze, as well as a spot on the British team for the 2013 World Championships being held in Barcelona.
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Unsurprisingly, Ben Proud did incredibly, finishing 18th in the 50 m freestyle, and 11th in the 50 m butterfly.
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In 2014, still only 19 years old, Ben Proud won his first senior international medals on his Commonwealth debut for England at Glasgow.
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Ben Proud represented Great Britain in the 50 m and 100 m freestyle events at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
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Ben Proud won a further bronze in the 50m freestyle in 21.43 seconds.
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At the 2018 Commonwealth Games held at the Gold Coast, Australia, Ben Proud won silver as part of the relay team with David Cumberlidge, Jarvis Parkinson and James Guy that came second in the freestyle events.
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Ben Proud broke his own Games record in the heats of the 50m freestyle with 21.45 seconds, then 21.30 in the semi-finals and went on to win the final in 21.35.
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Ben Proud won a silver in the medley with Adam Peaty, James Guy and Luke Greenbank.
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Ben Proud broke his own 50m freestyle British record at the Sette Colli meet in Rome, posting a Commonwealth record of 21.16 in the final to become the 4th fastest performer of all time over the distance.
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At the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, Ben Proud won a silver in the 50-metre butterfly.
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Ben Proud then broke the 50-meter freestyle textile world record with 21.11 in the semi-finals of the 50-metre freestyle, and won his first gold of the European championships in the final.
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At the European Championships held in Budapest in May 2021, Ben Proud won a silver in the 50 m freestyle.
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Ben Proud took part in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and won a gold in the 50 m butterfly event.
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Ben Proud was denied a seventh 50 metres butterfly title by Jacob Peters.
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Ben Proud won the 50 metres freestyle event for the third consecutive year and the 50m butterfly title at the 2025 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships.
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Ben Proud had already been selected for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore but cemented his place in winning the event.