A DREAM DIES FOR MURDOCH
Scot only just misses out on a medal and fails to repeat the glory of Glasgow 2014
ONE damned hundredth of a godforsaken second. One. A hummingbird’s heartbeat. That’s what separated Ross Murdoch from a medal here last night. Even in a sport famous for its fine margins, this felt like a particularly cruel and inhumane punishment to befall our hometown hero.
Forever famous as the boyish face of Glasgow 2014, Murdoch is adamant that competing at Tollcross remains a joy and a pleasure.
After back-to-back disappointments at these European Championships, however, you wouldn’t blame him for going right off the place.
On a night of underwhelming Scottish performances mixed into a typically impressive Team GB medal haul, Murdoch expected to make fulsome amends for his cruel exclusion from the 100metres breaststroke final — barred by the ‘two-per-nation’ rule despite posting the third fastest qualifying time.
Reigning European champion in the 200m breaststroke, but beaten into second place by England’s James Wilby in a cracking Commonwealth Games final back in April, Murdoch had high hopes of at least a podium finish in the longer event.
Yet he struggled badly for the first half of the race, turning in sixth and then eighth.
His charge through the field in the second half, while never likely to catch clear leader Anton Chupkov, put him right in the mix with Wilby and Luca Pizzini. Bang on pace, but a fingernail behind the Italian.
‘I’m really disappointed with that, to be honest,’ said Murdoch, who does a nice line in understatement.
‘I didn’t know if I could win it or not, but I certainly felt I was better than 2:08.5. Pretty disappointing the way that went.
‘What went wrong? Beats me. You guys know more about the race than me — you’ve seen it. I’ve not seen it back at all.
‘I need to go back, look at the race, speak to my coach — and hopefully learn something from it, move things on for next year.
‘It was all going pretty swimmingly, to be honest, and I just don’t know what happened on the back 50.
‘I should have been going faster than I was. So I just want to have a look.’
Murdoch will, of course, always be the boy who beat clear favourite Michael Jamieson to Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow four years ago, his shock victory a defining moment in a great summer for Scottish sport.
Every time he comes back to Tollcross, then, there’s that frisson of expectation. That belief that the psychic echoes of past events will give him a nudge when needed most.
We can scratch that theory now. Although, obviously, the 24-year-old still loves competing at home.
‘I didn’t feel pressure,’ he said. ‘It’s nice to have the crowd on your side, so I viewed it as a positive to be back swimming at home.’
Fellow Team Scotland star Mark Szaranek fell short in his crack at a 200m individual medley medal just moments after Murdoch’s race, finishing in fifth.
Duncan Scott, the poster boy for Scottish swimming, also had a disappointing night — but at least escaped with the chance to swim again.
Only just sneaking into tonight’s 200metres freestyle final, finishing fifth in his semi but qualifying as eighth fastest, wasn’t what the breakout star of this year’s Commonwealth Games had in mind.
‘And breathe, I guess…’ said Scott with a laugh. ‘I didn’t try to do that. That wasn’t the plan.
‘It’s going to be pretty tough tomorrow night and I guess I just have to try to swim my own race.
‘It’s not ideal, finishing fifth in the semi. But still making it through to the final, you’ve got a lane, you’ve got a chance.
‘I will have to look at the race and see what I can do better. I’ve got tomorrow morning off, so that should maybe help.’
Scott’s efforts to date at these European Championships, thrilling the Glasgow crowd with silver in the 100 freestyle before helping Team GB to 4x200 freestyle relay gold, meant he went into last night’s event as among the favourites.
Yet he struggled from the start of the second semi, turning in seventh after 50m — and looking mightily grateful when the small letter ‘q’ appeared, eventually, next to his name on the scoreboard.
Whatever anxiety he was feeling in that brief interval between finishing and having that final place confirmed, it was shared by a majority here.
‘I sort of knew what the times were in the first semi, so I kind of knew I was in about eighth,’ he stressed. ‘But it was still a long couple of seconds.’
Team GB’s swimmers added four medals to their overall total at Tollcross in last night’s session, pick of the bunch undoubtedly the gold in the mixed 4x100 medley relay — Georgia Davies, the unbeatable Adam Peaty, James Guy and Freya Anderson hammering allcomers to win the title.
Wilby got his silver in the 200 breaststroke, while Alys Thomas bagged bronze in the 200 butterfly and Max Litchfield finished third in the 200 medley.