Emotional Wallace takes the plunge into retirement

0 This week’s 200m IM has turned out to be Dan Wallace’s last race. Olympic silver medallist Dan Wallace confirmed his retirement from swimming yesterday in Gold Coast, less than 24 hours after competing in what turned out to be his very last race: the 200 metres individual medley at the Commonwealth Games, where he came sixth.

The decision was not entirely unexpected, with the 24-yearold revealing before his arrival in Australia that this would be his final season. Lacking in motivation for long spells since his trip to the podium at Rio 2016 in the 4x200 freestyle relay, Wallace re-energised himself for one last tilt with a return home to Edinburgh last winter.

He took two relay bronzes here to conclude a career which saw him claim a world championship gold in Kazan in 2015 following victory in the 400 medley at the 2014 Commonwealths in Glasgow. But with a firm indication that he would not be selected for the British team for August’s European Championships in Glasgow, and with a desire to steer his life on an alternative course, it felt the right time to bow out, he said.

“I knew when I made the final, there was still a possibility to go on to the Europeans,” Wallace insisted. “If I’d been picked, I probably would have gone. But going into the race, I felt like this would be the last one and I treated it like that. And it was emotional.

“The hardest part was getting out of the heats and into the final. I stuck on my kilt, put a smile on my face and took in the occasion. Because I knew there’s not likely to be another time in my life when I walk out in front of 5,000 people applaudingme.it’sanamazing feeling.”

A handful of family and friends were told his intentions in confidence. But in camp, really, everyone probably knew. “Duncan Scott and Ross Murdoch came up to me before the race and gave me a hug and said ‘enjoy it’. I’d