Tyler Melbourne-Smith On His Record-Breaking Feats & Training Alongside Olympic Elite
Tyler Melbourne-Smith rewrote the Welsh and British short-course record books at the recent Swim England Winter National Championships at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.
The 20-year-old posted a time of 3:36.09 in the 400m freestyle to go top of the 2025 world rankings where he dislodged Australian Sam Short.
It would have earned Melbourne-Smith gold at the European Short Course Championships in Lublin, Poland, in early December.
Tyler Melbourne-Smith: Photo Courtesy: Swim Wales
Only Duncan Scott has gone quicker among British men with his national record of 3:34.46 as Melbourne-Smith elevated himself to 10th-fastest European all-time.
He was back in the water for the 800 free where he came home in 7:33.56 to take 2.7secs off the British record of 7:36.26 that had stood to Kieran Bird since December 2023.
Melbourne-Smith is coached by Andi Manley at the University of Loughborough where he’ll graduate with an International Business degree in 2027.
While a successful training block indicated he was on good form, he was still a little surprised by his performances.
“I was just happy because I’ve been training at a pretty good level since joining Loughborough and I’ve taken a massive jump in training,” he told Swimming World. “I think it was a good reflection to see where I’m at. The past few years I’ve been training at a lot higher level than what I’ve been racing at so it’s nice that I can take a step up.”
A few days after his exploits in Sheffield, Melbourne-Smith swept the 200, 400 and 800 free titles at the Swim Wales Winter Nationals in Swansea, despite contending with a cold.
His winning time of 1:47.46 in the 200 free saw him qualify to represent Team Wales at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Sharing The Pool With Olympic Champion Wiffen
Until earlier this year, Melbourne-Smith shared the Loughborough pool with Olympic 800 free champion Daniel Wiffen and world short course medallist Lucas Henveaux until the pair left for Cal-Berkeley in California. Felix Auboeck, the 2021 400 free short-course world champion, was also part of the group and retired in April this year.
“I was good friends with Dan at the pool,” said Melbourne-Smith. “He’s always been a good mentor.
“As soon as I joined Loughborough you get to see there’s a massive gap between junior age group swimming to the elite top of the top. When I joined I was like wow, I just want to race everything even if I knew I couldn’t keep up a lot of the time.
Andi Manley: Photo Courtesy: Swim England
“When you’ve got a group of good swimmers who all hold each other accountable in training it means if someone is lagging that day, they’ll tell you or you’ll tell them. I feel like when you train with quicker swimmers, you’re going to get quicker if you’re pushing each other so I think that was good.”
Born in Warrington, Melbourne-Smith moved to Dubai when he was three weeks old. He took to the water immediately and joined Hamilton Aquatics before the family returned to Cheshire when he was about seven and a half.
He spent around 18 months at Ellesmere Titans before going to Warriors of Warrington and then City of Liverpool where he was coached by Mike Roberts.
Roberts had a fine career in Liverpool, guiding the likes of Fran Halsall, James Guy and Michael Rock and he made a big impact on the young Melbourne-Smith.
“The best coach I had as a junior would be Mike Roberts,” he said. “I’d say one of the best coaches I’ve had. He was coming towards the end of his coaching career and when I left he retired. His knowledge of swimming was top, it was at an elite level. A good coach to be honest.”
Melbourne-Smith supports Manchester United but swimming has only ever been the sport for him.
“I’ve always loved training and racing,” he said. “The best thing about swimming is competition, that’s the thing I love the most, racing and competing. That’s why you wake up every day, early mornings. You commit a lot of time with swimming to race at the best of your ability.”
Looking Ahead To His Commonwealth Debut
Looking ahead to 2026 where he heads to the British Championships in April as the reigning 800 free champion.
Melbourne-Smith – whose grandmother Claire hailed from Cardiff – will then set sail for Tollcross where he’ll make his Commonwealth debut, three years after the 800/1500 double at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago.
There he’ll reunite with Wiffen as well as facing the likes of Australian trio Short, Elijah Winnington and Ed Somerville, McMillan of Northern Ireland, Englishmen Guy and Tom Dean as well as Scott who’ll be backed by a vociferous Glasgow crowd.
He’s also set to be part of the Wales 4×200 free relay alongside two-time Olympic champion Matt Richards.
Not that he is putting any pressure on himself, saying: “I think I’ve just got to go there and do my best and try and see what I can do, (against) some of the best swimmers in the world. I wouldn’t say there is a massive expectation on me: I can go there and try and surprise a few people and see what I can do.”
