OLYMPIC medallist Duncan Scott won silver in the 100m butterfly at the British Championships in Edinburgh last night in what was his last competitive race before the Commonwealth Games, which kick-off in Australia’s Gold Coast in less than five weeks time.
Scott raced the 100m in all four disciplines at this meet, which is doubling-up as the Edinburgh International Swim Meet, in preparation for the 200m individual medley which he will race in Gold Coast.
He may have failed to claim any gold medals over the four days of competition at the Royal Commonwealth Pool but he declared himself content with where he is as he enters his final preparation phase. “I was trying out a couple of things – things like different race tactics,” the 20-year-old University of Stirling swimmer said.
“This week has been really good to give me a few indicators about where I can make small improvements over the next few weeks whether that’s on the turn or the finish or wherever. So it’s been a really good few days of racing.”
Scott is a different animal compared to when he competed at Glasgow 2014 as a fresh-faced 17-year-old, and he is also now the owner of a raft of international medals including two Olympic silvers from the relay events.
So he goes into Gold Coast 2018 with much increased expectation on his shoulders but he maintains that he remains unfazed by his progress over the past four years. “I’m a few years older, I’m in third year at uni but I’m still doing the same events so not too much has changed,” he said.
“The main thing is that I’m a lot more experienced. But I’m still in it for the same reasons – I want to race the best in the world and at Commonwealth Games, we get to represent Scotland which is very special.”
And while he does not allow himself to dream about standing on the podium, he does admits that hearing the national anthem played at Murrayfield Stadium in the aftermath of Scotland’s Calcutta Cup victory did get his juices flowing. “It was pretty nice hearing the national anthem when we beat England in the rugby - that gave me goosebumps,” he said. “I visualise how I want the races to go and where I potentially am going to come in the race but I don’t visualise what I’m going to do on the podium. So if I get there, we’ll just see what I do.”
Elsewhere, Stephen Milne became British champion in the 200m freestyle, Lucy Hope won silver in the 100m freestyle and Corrie Scott won bronze in the 50m breaststroke. Adam Peaty once again showed the gulf between him and the rest with his dominant victory in the 50m breaststroke with Ross Murdoch winning bronze.
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