Scott finally reaches his Tollcross goal
Ever
since he watched fellow Perth athlete, Stephen Milne, competing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scott McLay has had a goal.
To take to the water at a major event at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre.
This week he will get the chance in the LEN European Short Course Swimming Championships.
An 18-strong Great British team has been named for the five-day event, which begins on Wednesday.
Twenty-year-old McLay is in the group, along with fellow Scots Duncan Scott and Ross Murdoch.
World Champions James Guy, James Wilby and Luke Greenbank will also be north of the border representing GB.
So will Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor.
McLay, the Stirling University student who burst on to the scene after the Commonwealth Youth Games of 2017 when he collected five medals, is no stranger to big meets now.
And he feels he is in good shape heading into this one.
“The main aim for me is to get season bests and personal bests in Glasgow,” he said. “I’ve been putting in hard work in the lead up to the championships and hopefully that means that success will come.
“If I come away with a PB, I’m going to be really happy, a medal would be a bonus.
“Watching the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 is pretty much where my journey began.
“I watched Stephen Milne compete, and I decided that was a path I really wanted to go down.
“I wanted to be representing my country at a Commonwealth Games, and I wanted to be at the same level he was.
“I’ve worked hard to come up through the rankings from junior to senior, and I was happy to make the team for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games last year.
“Ever since then, I’ve been determined to get on to more teams and enjoy the same level of success I saw him achieve.”
McLay admits training with the likes of Scott and Murdoch, as well as other top-quality athletes as part of the high-performance programme in Stirling, has helped him to take his swimming to the next level.
“The talent we have in Stirling is incredible. There is a good collection of us,” he explained.
“We’re all there to do the same thing which is to be the best version we can be of ourselves in the sport.”
The BBC will show the final sessions from the meet across its digital platforms, with over 500 athletes from almost 50 European nations making their way to Glasgow.
Alloa’s 22-year-old Scott, very much one of the hot properties in world swimming at the moment, said: “To get back on the podium in Glasgow would be very special to me.
“It is always good to race at home.”