Scott and co keeping calm and carrying on
THE world of sport may be shutting down due to the corona virus, but yesterday the swimmers were still making a splash, competing in the Edinburgh International at the Commonwealth Pool.
The event is a warm-up for the British trials for the Olympic Games, but in this world of uncertainty the odds are short that those events will proceed as scheduled.
However, that matters not to the swimmers who will just carry on doing what they do best.
“We just have to treat it as if the Olympics are going ahead,” 2016 silver medallist James Guy said. “As athletes, you can only control what you can control. So we’ll keep preparing.”
And racing while they can with it being the fun part, the release, amid the relentless training behind closed doors.
Should the klaxon sound to signal normality, Duncan Scott intends to be ready. And the 22-year-old offered a glimpse of what his peak might entail with victory in the 200 metres individual medley in 1:59.88.
It propelled him over a second clear of Stirling teammate Mark Szaranek. With the other two freestyle outings in the works this weekend, the European champion will focus exclusively on speed. However, he believes he can still acquire marginal gains over all four medley strokes.
“I’ve more to give for sure,” he said. “The back end of my freestyle, when it’s all firing, it can be one of the best in the world. But I have to get the other 150m right.
“The other individual strokes, I can get more out of. The skills, the underwater work, going from backstroke to breast. Having Mark come to Stirling from the States has been a big help because his skills are very good. That’s helped in training.
“The guys who are doing one event – like breaststroke – they just do one at a high level. The detail of what they go into is incredible. I can go into detail but then I’ve got three other strokes to focus on. But in training it’s good to have so many things to work on.”
Ross Murdoch is often Scott’s breaststroke sage in training at Stirling University. The former Commonwealth champion, now 26, remains fully engaged and enthused.
Sporting what he dubbed his new David Wilkie moustache, he trimmed the early lead of 2019 world medallist James Wilby in the closing stages of the 200 metres breaststroke final but was two seconds adrift at the finish, despite a season’s best of 2:11.54.
“I really wanted to get out and be with James and stick with him as long as I could before chasing over the last 50,” he admitted. “But I couldn’t be happier with the time.”
His motivation remains strong, no matter what the future holds. Trials or none, Olympics or vacuum, Murdoch intends to carry on.
“I’m in the sport because I love it. I love competing. If one meeting in four years doesn’t go ahead, then I’ve still had a pretty good run. I’m not going to retire after these Olympics anyway... so it’s not making a difference. My focus is on swimming fast this summer. If I’m at the Olympics, then great. If not, we move on.”
Kathleen Dawson lowered the meeting record in the 100m backstroke to 59.74 secs to thwart fellow Scot Cassie Wild, while Freya Anderson, twice a gold medallist at last December’s European short-course championships in Glasgow, won the 50m freestyle in 24.88 secs.
Tom Dean powered to victory in the men’s 200m freestyle in 1:46.03 with the 19-yearold Englishman leaving Guy and Scott in his wake. Joe Litchfield edged out world championship medallist Luke Greenbank in the 100m backstroke final with Stirling’s Craig McNally third.