“I’M not going to the Olympics to have fun.” Lest there was any chance of this summer’s sporting jamboree in Rio de Janeiro being mistaken for two weeks at Disneyland, Duncan Scott makes his point very clear indeed. One of the Sunday Herald’s 6 to Follow, the recently-turned 19-year-old was last month named among Team GB’s 26-strong swimming squad for the forthcoming Games. It will be his first Olympics and he is determined to make the most of it.

When plotting out his young protégé’s career path some time ago, coach Steve Tigg had pencilled in the Tokyo Games in 2020 as the occasion when Scott would likely be at his peak. That may well prove to the case but both swimmer and coach know it would be a huge mistakes to let this opportunity pass by without Scott giving it his best shot. Professional sport can be a capricious beast and the best-laid plans can often come unstuck due to injury, loss of form or other unforeseen life-altering factors.

Scott, the 100m freestyle champion at the recent British Championships in Glasgow that doubled as the Olympic trials, will almost certainly swim as part of the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team but is hopeful that he will get the chance to race individually as well. What he can’t allow himself to do, however, is think these Games represent a free pass and not commit to it, regardless of which events he ends up doing.

“I’m not going to Rio just to enjoy myself,” he said. “I spoke to Steve about this. You can’t go to the Olympics just for the experience. It’s every four years so it’s a special occasion. You need to go there and swim fast and do as well as you can on the day. Tokyo is still the long-term target but for the next couple of months it’s all about Rio. I’d be annoyed with myself if I felt I didn’t go there and give it my best shot. You’ve got to make the most of the chances you’re given.”

It is yet to permeate his thought process that he is heading to his first Olympics, the realisation of a decade-long dream. Like the rest of his University of Stirling colleagues – four of whom will go to Rio as part of an eight-strong Scots enclave in the GB group – he took a few days off after the trials to unwind, before turning his thoughts to his exams as he completes his first year of a Business and Sports Studies degree.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet as it seems still quite a while away,” he added. “We’ve not got the kit or anything yet so it doesn’t really feel like I’m going. I’m not sure when I will. I had my exams right after the trials so there hasn’t been a lot of time to think about it all.

“We had five or six days off just to relax and get away from the pool. I just hung about in the flat, played a few games of golf and tried to chill out. We were back in the gym when the team was announced so it was good to see most people at that point.”

Next on Scott’s agenda are this week’s European Championships in London where he will compete in the 100m and 200m freestyle, the 200m individual medley and two relay events. Despite leaving the British trials with a gold and bronze medal, there were aspects of his swims that didn’t please him and he hopes to implement some changes this week.

“I sat down with Steve after trials and we’ve spoken about and worked on a few things that I’ll look to do better at the Europeans. So in the 200 IM, for example, I want to try to get around the wall slightly quicker. Because I’m quite tall I take quite a while to get around the wall so it’s 0.2 or 0.3 (of a second) each turn which is quite a lot come the end of the race. I need to try to get that down.

“Then in the 200m freestyle I was swimming at different [stroke] rates. So the opening rate was a bit too quick and then I was dropping quite a lot so I need to try to maintain a consistent rate throughout. I just want to execute race plans really and try to do things that I didn’t do right at trials. This is one of the last chances to do that before Rio so it’s going to be quite important.”