Proud was born in London on 21 September 1994 to Nic and Sally Proud. The family moved to Malaysia when he was five months old, and he grew up in Damansara, Kuala Lumpur. He has a brother, Oliver. He attended the Alice Smith School from kindergarten until year 12 of the school. At Alice Smith, he competed for the school and was trained by Francis Kiu, a professional Malaysian swimmer. He swam for the school swimming team, KLASS Torpedoes, representing them at many international swim meets. He swam at the Malaysian Open, winning the 50 m butterfly and placing second in the 50 m freestyle. His many swim meets across Southeast Asia included the Flying Fish meet in Phuket, Thailand. In 2011, when he was 16, he returned to England to pursue swimming as a career, and joined Plymouth College as a swimming scholar. After finishing school, he attended University of St Mark & St John where he studied for a Sports Development & Coaching degree. 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.
Swimming career
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. After his initial victories, he rose through the ranks and broke the decade-long 50 m butterfly standing record twice, in the semis and final, giving him his first British Gas Swimming Championship title at the age of 19. He 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. Unsurprisingly, Proud did incredibly, finishing 18th in the 50 m freestyle, and 11th in the 50 m butterfly. In 2014, still only 19 years old, Proud won his first senior international medals on his Commonwealth debut for England at Glasgow. The following month, Proud won a gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay and a bronze in the 50 m butterfly for Team GB at his first European Championships. In the 2016 European Aquatics Championships in London, he won two bronze medals, first in 50m butterfly, then in 50m freestyle. Proud represents Great Britain in the 50 m and 100 m freestyle events at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
2017
At the 2017 World Aquatics Championships, Proud qualified as the fourth fastest swimmer at the 50m butterfly semi-finals, but won a surprise gold at the final with a national record time of 22.75 seconds. He won a further bronze in the 50m freestyle in 21.43 seconds.
2018
At the 2018 Commonwealth Games held at the Gold Coast, Australia, Proud won silver as part of the relay team with David Cumberlidge, Jarvis Parkinson and James Guy that came second in the 4x100m freestyle events. He 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. He also won a silver in the 4x100m medley with Adam Peaty, James Guy and Luke Greenbank. He 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. At the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, Proud won a silver in the 50-metre butterfly. He 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.
International Swimming League
In the Autumn of 2019 he was member of the inaugural International Swimming League swimming for the Energy Standard International Swim Club, who won the team title in Las Vegas, Nevada, in December.
