Clegg ‘buzzing’ as he focuses on building upon his world record swim
Edinburgh University swimmer Stephen Clegg is still on a high following his worldrecord performance at the British Para-swimming International Meet on Sunday.
The 25-year-old, who powered to a time of 56.75 seconds in the final of the MC 100m butterfly on the last day of the event in Sheffield, smashed a world record which had stood for eight years.
“I am buzzing from that swim,” said Clegg, who won silver at the World Championships in 2019. “In my head I wanted to go a bit quicker, but a world record is a world record and it’s a really great starting point for the rest of the season. It was my first real race of the season so I think there is only more to build on. The trick now is to not get too caught up with that world record, keep composed and start again.”
On his bid to chase down the previous record of 56.84, set by the Russian, Roman Makarov, in Montreal in 2013, Clegg added: “Obviously everyone wants to try to be on top.
That top end of the S12 100m fly has always been licking at the heels of that world record so in my head I’ve always wanted to catch it, but my focus has been more around building the model that will work towards it, rather than focus on the record itself.
"My coach Chris (Jones) and I have been working on that back end. All the work I’ve been doing is about that back end so with that result it’s definitely moving in the right direction and hopefully there is more to come.”
In the women’s event Toni Shaw S9 (University of Aberdeen Performance Swim) finished third in a time of 1:09.56.
Oliver Carter S10 (University of Stirling), broke Paul Noble’s long-standing (1996) Scottish record in his 100m butterfly heat, in a time of 1:05.43.