Job done as Dawson makes up for Rio snub
AN observer from long distance of the Rio 2016 Olympics, Kathleen Dawson had every reason to feel aggrieved. A victim of British Swimming’s inflexible selection policy, the gold and bronze she acquired at the European Championships, just weeks before the Games, were adjudged too late to warrant a belated summons.
Creditably, the Fifer did not let her spirits sink. Yet an unspoken objective lingered, to ensure there would be no unsatisfactory omission when Tokyo came around. Mission accomplished. At the selection trials in London last night, the 23-year-old made her case beyond any reasonable doubt, claiming victory in the women’s 100 metres backstroke in a Scottish record of 58.24 seconds.
It was the second-quickest time in the world this year and the outcome was doubly joyous with her training partner at Stirling University, Cassie Wild, following her home in 59.51 secs, inside the required consideration time and all but ensuring both will be bound for Japan in July.
“I wasn’t expecting to go as fast as that but I’m delighted with it,” Dawson said. “It has been a long time coming, especially as my first 59-second race was five years ago. I was a bit stagnant for a while but I’ve put the work in and it’s showing.”
Friends outwith the pool, their emergence in unison is no coincidence. Bereft of meetings in recent months to hone their craft, the Scots turned
to one another to provide the competitive stimulus required to secure marginal gains.
“We’ve been more consistent,” said Wild, who will turn 21 in the lead-up to the Games. “We’ve been doing time trials and I’ve been going under one minute consistently and that’s really shown when it’s come to racing as well. It definitely helps we are egging each other on.”
Both can go to next month’s Europeans in Budapest with few stresses but one eye on
plotting a path to the podium in Tokyo.
“I was already getting out and thinking there are things I can do better,” Wild said. “I just have to put those into practice and hopefully doing it at the Olympics.”
Molly Renshaw claimed outright ownership of the British record in the women’s 200m breaststroke by winning the trials in 2:20.89. It was the second-best time of 2021 with Loughborough team-mate Abbie Wood also cementing her selection, with Edinburgh University’s Kara Hanlon fourth.
Double Olympic silver medallist James Guy effectively earned his Tokyo slot with victory in the 200m butterfly. Stirling’s Craig McNally was fifth in the men’s 100m backstroke with Joe Litchfield nudging out Luke Greenbank by eight-hundredths of a second for first place.
Tonight, Duncan Scott will be hunting a second British record in three days after swiping the 200 metres individual medley mark away from Max Litchfield with a brilliant victory on Wednesday. In his quest to secure a second solo outing in Tokyo, the 23-year-old will take a swing at his own 100m freestyle record.
His time of 47.87 secs, set in Glasgow ahead of the 2019 world championships, is almost a full second quicker than second-ranked David Cumberlidge. But with places in a potential medalwinning relay squad also up for grabs, Scott – the reigning Commonwealth champion – intends to bring his A-game once again.
He said: “It’s going to be really difficult. There are plenty of swimmers looking at it and thinking ‘I want to be part of that 4x100 team’. We were fifth in 2019 with a relatively inexperienced group: Ben Proud, Jimmy Guy, Scott McLay and myself. So there are plenty who want to push that team.
“For myself, I’ve got to try and challenge my best times and see where I can go. I didn’t swim it [at the worlds] in 2019. I just led off the relay because of trying to get the 200IM experience. I’m looking forward to it.”