Of all the inspirational quotes that have come from the mouths of elite sportspeople, it’s the fictional American football coach Ted Lasso who imparted the advice that Duncan Scott is currently drawing most heavily upon.

“I’ve just seen an episode,” says Scott, “where Ted Lasso says you need to be like a goldfish.”

And that is exactly the wisdom the 26-year-old is taking into the World Swimming Championships, which begin tomorrow in Doha.

Scott has become a regular on the podium at recent World Championships; eight medals, including four golds, since 2015 is a pretty decent return by anyone’s standards.

But these World Championships have an entirely different feel to them for Scott.

Taking place unusually early in the year, this meet is, for Scott anyway, something of a stepping-stone towards the Paris Olympics, which are now less than six months away.

Having two major championships in such close proximity is why Scott is adamant that, whatever his results over the next week, he’ll be deploying Ted Lasso’s advice and ensuring these World Championships won’t be permitted to linger in his brain for too long, something he admits is not always his forte.

“With how soon the Olympics are, you have to just forget whatever happens during these Worlds,” he says. 

“Whether it's good or bad you have to forget it because Paris is right around the corner.

“I'm usually quite hard on myself – that can be positive or can be to my detriment.

“But I'm usually quite good at using it as motivation. And that's probably the most important thing.”

Scott is one of three Scottish swimmers headed for Doha in this 20-strong GB team alongside Kathleen Dawson and Lucy Hope.

Also in the squad is Englishman Tom Dean, with whom Scott has developed an intense competitive rivalry in the pool.

Dean beat Scott to Olympic gold in the 200m freestyle at Tokyo 2020 and in recent weeks, the Englishman has added another layer to their rivalry by stating his desire to win five Olympic medals at Paris 2024, which would beat Scott’s record-setting tally of four medals at a single Games, which he achieved in Tokyo.

The Herald: Duncan Scott gives his all at the Commonwealth Games, where he picked up six medals Photograph: Getty

For some athletes, such statements from their teammates would spark a reaction but Scott has the unusual but priceless quality of being able to remain entirely focused on himself regardless of what his competitors say or do.

And so despite Dean’s intention to rack up his medal count in Paris, Scott refuses to set himself any similar targets.

“It's all really individual,” Scott says of the process of setting medal targets.

“If people want to have a target, that's up to them. It worked well for Michael Phelps - the target for him was the special number of eight to get ahead of Mark Spitz.

“Tom (Dean) is a confident guy and he probably believes really well in his ability so credit to him. 

“Everyone's got their own targets and as it's Olympic year, everyone's shooting that little bit higher.”

The signs are that Scott’s current form is good.

He ended 2023 by winning two golds at the European Shortcourse Championships in the 200m IM and the 4x50m freestyle relay but despite this, he’s refusing to make any predictions about his potential to pick up medals over the coming week.

With the Olympic Trials in April, Scott has not tapered for these World Championships and so, most likely, will be short of his best in Doha in the coming days.

Having had a dip in form this time last year, Scott was well-beaten in one of his favoured events, the 200m freestyle, at the 2023 British trials and so missed out on selection for several individual events at last year’s World Championships.

Having been forced to endure what he describes as the “devastation” of last season’s poor Trials performance, Scott is desperate to prevent a repeat at this year’s event, hence the reason his focus isn’t entirely trained on these World Championships.

For all the pressure that will be on Scott’s shoulders in the coming months, however, he’s well aware that in fact, the toughest part of Olympic year is still some months away.

“That's the worst part of Olympic year is straight after the Games,” the University of Stirling swimmer says.

“Everyone thinks how nice the Olympics is but how many people leave an Olympic Games having succeeded?

“It’s a tiny number. 

“So many people at the Olympics lose and some people find that quite challenging. 

“I was 36 hours from when I touched the wall at the Tokyo Olympics to being in my own flat in Stirling watching it on television and I was like, oh, I was there yesterday.

“That’s the worst part about the Olympics - the complete cut off.

“I've seemed to manage it quite well in the past, but it's just about taking care because some people really struggle with that.”