Olympic silver medallist inspires Oban swimmers
Young Oban swimmers were inspired by Stephen Milne’s stories recently when the Olympian visited the Oban Otters Amateur Swimming Club.
The 28-year-old from Inverness won a silver medal for Team Great Britain in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics and gold at the World Championships in 2017.
He was visiting the club in his new role as West District Swimming co-ordinator for Scottish Swimming after retiring as a professional athlete.
Milne also won two bronze medals at his third Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year and brought his Olympic silver medal along to Otters training on Wednesday March 23.
Speaking to swimmers from all three Otters squads, he shared stories from his competitive career and answered questions.
This was few days before the West District Pre-SNAGs long course meet in Glasgow, which was the last competition before the Otters prepare for the Scottish National Age Group Championships (SNAGS).
Five Otters were in action in the Saturday March 26 meet, with Andrew Boyle, Kai MacKechnie, Lily Robinson, Rachel Carre and Megan Carre travelling to Tollcross.
Alex Elliot was unlucky not to qualify as well after securing an entry time, but being scratched from the event because of the number of entrants, showing how difficult it was to qualify for this competition.
The Otters adapted well to swimming in the Olympic sized pool and the top performer was Kai MacKechnie with three best times and a top 10 finish in the 50-metre backstroke. The club captain Andrew Boyle also swam well and there was a best time for Lily Robinson, who was competing in the 100-metre butterfly event.
Otters head coach Shannon McCuish said: “Oban can be proud of these youngsters.”
The SNAGs will take place in Aberdeen from Wednesday April 12 to Sunday April 16 and will provide an opportunity for Otters to score points for their club in the Top Team competition.