TEEN HOPEFULS MAKE A SPLASH IN EDINBURGH
THE 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo remain 19 months away. And, for teenage hopefuls Scott McLay and Freya Anderson, even the relatively minor spoils to be gained at this weekend’s Scottish Short Course Championship in Edinburgh represent valuable experience.
McLay, 19, missed out on August’s European Championships in Glasgow after venturing to the Commonwealth Games – the qualifying event – as a relay specialist, but he has converted disappointment into determination.
Among the group of t yros at the University of Stirling, he claimed a Scottish title in the 100 metres freestyle last night in coming second to England’s David Cumberlidge.
“I don’t want to miss out again,” he said. “I wish I’d been at the Europeans, and I was there shouting my team-mates on, but now I want to take it step by step. I need to improve my 100m free. My butterfly is coming on well on top of that. I’ll go through a process of getting better and better and hopefully I’ll be in the team for the worlds in both the individual and the relay.”
Anderson, 17, a world junior champion, poached a maiden senior individual medal at the Europeans but the intimidating manner of her victories yesterday in both the 50m and 400m freestyle finals. Her performance underlined why some see her as having the potential to be on the podium in Tokyo.
“This time last year, I’d not raced because of a back injury, but that did me good,” she reflected. “I’m much further on now and I’m happier with how I’m going. I think that helped make me stronger, maybe even more committed. Watching my team-mates swim when I couldn’t was hard but I couldn’t wait to get back into training and competing.”
Ross Murdoch claimed his second Scottish record in t wo days to see off old foe Craig Benson in the 100m breaststroke final in a time of 57.29 sec. His University of Stirling teammate Duncan Scott claimed his fourth and fifth titles of the meeting in the 200m butterfly and in the 4x50m free relay.
University of Edinburgh’s Tain Bruce shrunk the Scottish women’s 100m butterfly record to 57.15 sec while Aimee Willmott held off Kat Greenslade in the 200m backstroke final. In the heats, Stephen Clegg set a world record of 27.20 in the 50m S12 backstroke with fellow Paralympian Scott Quin lowering the world best in the SB14 100m breaststroke to 1:04.67.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit has been filed in California against swimming’s world governing body FINA with Hungary’s three-time Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu, along with Americans Tom Shields and Michael Andrew, claiming they are acting “on behalf of elite swimmers around the world” in alleging anti-competitive conduct. The move comes after a lucrative series run by the International Swimming League was abandoned ahead of its planned launch this month.