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Sean McCann was just two years old when his sister went missing in Portugal in 2007
On Thursday morning, Loughborough University published their latest video featuring a student athlete who will be competing over the coming days at the Commonwealth Games.
The short insight into Sean McCann’s uplifting swimming journey soon had rather more views than their previous postings following the widespread reporting this week that he is the younger brother of Madeleine McCann, the three-year-old girl who went missing in Portugal in 2007.
Sean’s ongoing progress in elite swimming has become increasingly known in sporting circles, but his rise to the Commonwealth Youth Games and European Junior Championship stayed largely under the public radar. A first major senior championship, however, has taken him onto a very different stage and the 21-year-old’s selection on home soil in the 400 metres, 800m and 1500m freestyle at these Commonwealth Games marks him out as a potential Olympian two years from now in Los Angeles.
Sean qualifies for Scotland through his father and is expected to be supported by his parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, who first met in Glasgow, as well as many Glasgow-based family members. He will start at lunchtime on Saturday in the 400m freestyle at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre.
Sean’s ranking in the three long-distance events improves as the distance rises, and he goes into his first Commonwealth Games with respectively the 10th, eighth and sixth fastest times of the qualified competitors. The freestyle field in all three events is led by the Australian Sam Short, a World Championships gold medallist in 2023 who just missed the podium at the Paris Olympics.
“I’m very excited, it’s my first senior Games, so I’m just looking forward to representing Scotland and doing my absolute best,” Sean said this week in that Loughborough YouTube video. “It’s the pinnacle really … especially at a home Games. I’ve got lots of family up in Glasgow so that makes it even more special. I was there in 2014 [at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games], watching as a kid, so to make it now, 12 years later, is really a full circle moment.”
Credit : Loughborough University
Sean was nine back then, a period in which his parents had repeatedly spoken about their determination to ensure that Sean and his twin sister Amelie, who were both two when Madeleine disappeared, could grow up with as much normality and opportunity as possible.
Their subsequent achievements, both in academia and sports, suggest that the McCanns have done a remarkable job in navigating this challenge. “Our worry is for our children,” Kate said in 2017. “I think we’ve tried to educate them a little bit as well because obviously it’s not just us that has fallen victim to the downside of social media.
“At some point you’ve got to realise that time is not frozen and I think both of us realise that we owed it to the twins to make sure that their life is as fulfilling as they deserve, and we have certainly tried our best to achieve that.”
Gerry also spoke of the balance between wanting to protect them and developing their independence. “I am certainly more protective than I was, but you can’t mollycoddle them,” he said. “They have to be independent. There is increased anxiety but we can’t let that impact on them having a normal upbringing. Sean and Amelie are doing really really well; obviously they are not immune to the media, they hear things, they go to school, they hear the radio.”
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Kate McCann and her husband Gerry have tried to ensure Sean (pictured) and his sister Amelie have ‘fulfilling’ lives - Denis Doyle/Getty Images
The family have always all remained living in Rothley, Leicestershire, where they have also been supported hugely by the local community both in their search for Madeleine and in helping Sean and Amelie live with as much normality as possible.
A friend from their local De Lisle Catholic school said that Sean was “polite and kind”, and had remained focused on his swimming and schoolwork through all the various updates on the search.
Sean is now studying chemical engineering at Loughborough while Amelie is a geography student at Durham, where she is also a keen triathlete and swimmer. Gerry has returned to work as professor of cardiology at the University of Leicester and Glenfield Hospital while Kate, who was a GP, now helps dementia sufferers alongside helping to run their Madeleine’s Fund.
Sean began swimming seriously at the age of eight at Charnwood Triathlon Club.
He then joined Loughborough Town Swimming Club before being selected to swim at the City of Leicester high-performance club from the age of 10, with regular 4am alarm calls for early-morning training sessions since he was 11. Sean is also part of the National Open Water Development Squad and is a multiple Leicestershire county champion.
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McCann won gold in the 1500m for the Open Water Development Squad in 2024 at Best Fest - Scottish Swimming
He finished fifth three years ago at the Youth Commonwealth Games in Trinidad and Tobago in the 400m freestyle, highlighting the psychological aspect of events that require long hours swimming up and down a pool. “You’ve got to have a strong mentality in distance swimming; I always tend to go out quite slow and build my way into a race – that’s how I like to pace it,” he says.
Sean is now coached at Loughborough by Andi Manley, who is leading the English team in Glasgow. Sean says that the decision to join the elite set-up close to home at Loughborough, where Adam Ramsay-Peaty has also been based for most of his career, was a natural one.
“I study chemical engineering; I spoke to coaches in Britain, and they said, ‘If you want to pursue distance swimming, this is where to go’,” he said. “Alongside that, it was number one for the degree as well, which made it the obvious choice. At my home club I didn’t really have anyone doing the same events as me, which meant in training you were always working by yourself.
“But here, there’s always been people who are better than me, similar to me, so we push each other all the time, and we’re all striving towards the same sort of things.”
Scotland team-mate Charlie Hutchison describes Sean as “a workhorse” and an outstanding team-mate who never complains, despite some of the (what he calls) “disgusting” workouts they must complete. Elite competitors in long-distance swimming can cover up to 100km each week in training.
“There’s so much talent just around the campus,” Sean says. “Wherever you go, you always see athletes around. The pool’s amazing, the gym’s amazing – it’s the place to be, and I really love training here.”
And, while the Australians are expected to dominate the long-distance freestyle events, how does Sean rate his chances over the next week?
“I’m going in as more of an underdog; I don’t feel like there’s any pressure on me – I should be able to go in and perform at my best,” he says.
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