FOR a teenager just a year out of school, collecting two silver medals at an Olympic Games must surely be regarded as a giddy achievement.
But, reflecting on his podium double in the relays in Rio, Duncan Scott seemed not so sure. “The Olympic experience wasn’t better than I expected,” stated the 19-year-old University of Stirling swimmer. “But it almost went according to plan.”
Almost? Considering the relay medals were embellished by a British record en route to a fifth place in the 100m freestyle final, it surely rates as an outstanding debut. But his reaction shows he is hungry for so much more.
At yesterday’s Scottish Short Course Championships at Edinburgh’s Royal Commonwealth Pool, Scott continued to impress, adding two more gold medals and two Scottish records to the double he achieved on Friday.
The young Scot opted out of the World Short Course Champ- ionships in Canada, preferring to stay at home and gorge on national titles. With the 100m butterfly and 400m freestyle already in the bag, he added the 200m individual medley and 200m butterfly.
In the medley, he was only third fastest after the heats, but swiped 10 seconds off the time in the final to set the new Scottish mark of 1:53.82. His 200m butterfly record came just minutes later in 1:54.59.
Scott said: “I don’t know where the medley time came from,” said the delighted Scott. “The heats didn’t feel easy and I was a little worried about the final. The medley has always been one of my main events, although the breaststroke was an issue. But I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work.”
With the World Championships in Hungary next summer, Scott is spoilt for choice. Maybe too much so. He said: “I’ll sit down with my coach (Steve Tigg) and work it out. “I’ll sit down with my coach [Steve Tigg] and work it out,” he said. “But I’ll cut down the programme. Doing two events a day is hard.”
. “But I’ll cut the down the programme a little bit. Doing these two events a day is hard.”
But there will be no let up at these championships. Today he is going for the golden half dozen, aiming to add the 400m individual medley and the 200m freestyle.
Craig Benson and Camilla Hattersley – the other two Scottish Olympians in the line-up – collected their second titles. Benson won the 100m breaststroke and will be going for the clean sweep in the 200m today, while Hattersley added the 400m to her 800m freestyle.
With the Commonwealth Games qualifying period just a few months away, it was also time for new names to become noticed. Raquel Matos, who just missed out on Glasgow 2014, showed she is back on course with a win in a personal best 58.63secs in the 100m butterfly.
Meanwhile, in Ontario Kathleen Dawson reached her third final at the World Short Course Champion- ships with her fifth Scottish record of the event. The 19-year-old lowered the 50 metres backstroke mark she set in Toronto two years ago to 26.44 seconds to coast through the semis.
Rio Olympian Chloe Tutton advanced into the 100m breaststroke final but the British 4x200m freestyle squad, including City of Perth’s Stephen Milne, were forced to pull out of their final. Hannah Miley, who came fourth in the 400m individual medley, just missed out on a 200m IM final spot, ending up ninth-fastest in the semis.
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