THOSE Scots swimmers who failed to guarantee their place at the Olympics at last week’s British Championships in Glasgow will discover on Thursday whether they have done enough to make the team. Hannah Miley’s performance in the 400m individual medley made her one of only eight swimmers – and the only Scot - to win their respective events in times within the fairly demanding qualification standards set by British Swimming. The remainder of the Team GB squad – expected to number between 25 and 30 swimmers - will be made up of those runners-up from the championships who swam under a slightly less onerous qualification time, those who will make up relay teams, and six wildcard picks.
A number of Scots are on the cusp. Duncan Scott was a surprise winner of the 100m freestyle but in a time not considered fast enough for direct qualification. He could yet get the nod to compete in that event, or could form part of the 4x200m relay team having finished fourth in the 200m freestyle final. Ross Murdoch, the 2014 Commonwealth Games 200m breaststroke gold medallist and third-fastest man ever at that distance, looks like sitting out his favoured event having been beaten by both Andrew Willis – an automatic qualifier – and runner-up Craig Benson, another Scot waiting anxiously to see if he has earned selection. Olympic rules state only two swimmers from each country can compete in an event. Murdoch, though, could be handed a lifeline in the 100m breaststroke, having finished second behind Adam Peaty in last week’s final. Murdoch took bronze at the shorter distance at last summer’s world championships.
Stephen Milne, the Perth-based swimmer, gave himself four different chances of being selected, having finished runner-up in the 200m, 400m and 1500m freestyle events. Should he not earn an individual place he could be asked to swim in the 4x200m relay, with fellow Scot Robbie Renwick also confident of making that particular team. In the women’s events, Glasgow’s Camilla Hattersley could also come into relay contention after finishing fourth in the 200m freestyle final.
There has been criticism that some of the consideration times were overly challenging and that potential medal-winners could miss out on Rio as a result. But Bill Furniss, head coach of British Swimming, felt it was correct to set the bar so high.
“You put five Olympic rings up there and it brings a whole tension with it, and in some respects, it sorts out the wheat from the chaff,” he said, ahead of the squad announcement at Bath University. “It gets those who you want on the team on that plane and I think that is very much why we are pleased with the selection policy.
“If you look [at the results in Glasgow], we’ve had eight automatic qualifiers and people are still saying they are still too tough. We are taking a maximum team of 30 so those eight are almost 30% of the team. It is aspirational but we’ve got a considerable number of swimmers to consider very carefully.”
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