Scott strikes again as GB win medley silver
● Murdoch also collects a medal, taking Scotland’s meet tally to five
Duncan Scott and Ross Murdoch ended the World Championships in style last night when they were part of the Great Britain team which won a silver medal in the 4 x 100m medley relay.
It means Scott, the 20-yearold from the University of Stirling, will travel home from Budapest with a gold and a silver, the first medal having come in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay on Friday evening.
Murdoch, his 23-year-old club team-mate, did not swim in the final, so missed out on his moment on the podium, but swam in the heat and earned a medal.
All of that means that Scots have earned five medals in the overall aquatics meet over the last fortnight in Hungary, Scott’ s double added toby murdoch’ s effort, Stephen Milne’ s gold in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay and Grace Reid’s silver in the 3m mixed synchro diving.
In the 4 x 100m medley relay heats yesterday morning the team of Chris Walker-hebborn, Murdoch, James Guy and Scott finished second to Russia in a time of 3:32.35.
For the final, man of the moment Adam Peaty replaced Murdoch on the second leg and he swam a great 100 metres to put Team GB right in the mix for a medal.
The USA were streaking ahead and went on to win gold in 3:27.91, but Scott held his nerve on the final leg to hold off the Russian Federation.
Great Britain’s time to take the silver was 3:28.95, with the Russians taking the bronze in 3:29.76.
After the race Scott said: “It has been an amazing week for me and to bounce back after missing out on medals in my individual events to claim a gold and a silver in the relays is just amazing.
“I love being part of this team and I am just really chuffed at the moment.”
Teenager Kathleen Dawson was part of the women’s team which finished seventh in the 4 x 100m medley relay.
The 19-year-old University of Stirling backstroker swam the first leg in 1:00.24 as Great Britain put in a time of 3:59.51, the USA winning in a World record time of 3:51.55.
Meanwhile, in the 400m individual medley Hannah Miley finished in eighth place.
The 27-year-old University of Aberdeen swimmer was competing in her fifth World Championships and in the morning heats she swam well.
She finished fourth in her heat in 4:37.14, which meant that she qualified in eighth place for the final.
The home favourite was Katinka Hosszu and she was going to take some beating as the atmosphere cranked up at the venue.
She seemed to take real heart from that support as she went on to win gold pretty comfortably in 4:29.33 which was a championship record.
Mereia Belmonte of Spain took second, with Canadian Sydney Pickram batting for the bronze.
Miley gave it her all, but finished with a time of 4:38.34.
Afterwards she was very honest, saying: “That wasn’t good enough from me and I really have to go back and look at the video of the race and pick it apart and see where it went wrong.
“Despite finishing in eighth I still get a real buzz from being at these big events and this atmosphere was like the Olympics in 2012 or Glasgow 2014.
“I still feel good in myself, but I have had a few things to sort out over the last year and after this meet I will have a rest and then come again.
“I would love to go to the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020, but we will take things year on year and see how it goes.”
Mark Szaranek, the 21-yearold University of Florida/university of Edinburgh athlete, did not make it to the final in his 400 individual medley event, but can still look back on a positive experience at his first World Championships.
He finished fourth in his heat in a time of 4:15.71 and, agonisingly, that meant he finished ninth overall to miss the final.
In the final his Team GB teammate Max Litchfield finished just outside the medals in fourth, and Szarnek said: “I have really enjoyed this week and it puts me in a good place going forward in my career.”
“It has been an amazing week for me and to bounce back after missing out on medals in my individual events to claim a gold and a silver in the relays is just amazing”
DUNCAN SCOTT