The very best of Scottish swimming talent was on show last week (22-27 June) at the British Gas Scottish National Swimming Championships at Tollcross Park Leisure Centre in Glasgow. Along with national titles up for grabs, the event also doubled as Scotland’s Commonwealth Games trials, with competitors looking to post nomination times for the Delhi Games in October.

Thirteen swimmers had already posted nomination times for the Commonwealth Games at the British Championships in March, and while no other names were added to the list for individual events, there was a high level of competition throughout the week. There were a number of impressive performances from Scottish Delhi hopefuls, including David Carry, Hannah Miley, Robbie Renwick, Kerry Buchan and Andrew Mayor.

City of Glasgow’s Robbie Renwick reflected on a tough week: “I’ve been swimming constantly, I’ve not been rested this week at all, I’ve just been training through it and trying to get as fit as I possibly can for Delhi. I’ve got the European Championships in August so hopefully I’ll win some medals there and build my confidence for the Games in October. I can’t wait to go. It’ll be hard work but so worth it.”

It was another fantastic week for Hannah Miley (Gairloch) who is relishing the opportunity to represent Scotland in Delhi: “It would be amazing. It’s one of the things I’m really looking forward to most. It’s a great honour to represent GB but I’m Scottish. I’d love to actually represent Scotland and sing the National Anthem at one of these events. It’s a difficult thing to describe, but it’s a huge honour and I just can’t wait.”

Andrew Mayor (City of Newcastle) spoke about the importance of meets like the Scottish Championships in the run up to the Commonwealth Games: “Two day meets are perfect to swim hard and tough but you don’t really train your body to go through heats and finals, and you don’t get the experience of a five, six, seven day meet. To have the British and then the Scottish Championships you have two fiercely competitive meets. Having meets like this in the run up to a major Games is so, so important.”

Summarising the week, National Coach Doug Campbell commented: “We’d hoped to be nominating around 20 swimmers to Commonwealth Games Scotland for selection and it now looks like there will be 13 swimmers who achieved individual qualifying times, plus one EAD swimmer and two additional swimmers who helped the men’s relay qualify. The swimmers and coaches will now need to re-focus for the rest of the season with ASA Nationals and European Championships both on the agenda this summer before Delhi in October. Those who qualified I’m sure will swim to their maximum potential and achieve their goals.”

Campbell has previously warned of keeping expectations in check after the swimming squad claimed 12 medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, which was a truly exceptional performance. He believes a target of about five medals in India is more realistic from the swimmers with the possibility of an additional medal coming from diving.

The following swimmers have posted nomination times for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and will be nominated to Commonwealth Games Scotland for selection. The full team will be announced on 18 August 2010:

Women
Kerry Buchan
Lucy Ellis
Megan Gilchrist
Kathryn Johnstone
Caitlin McClatchey
Hannah Miley
Corrie Scott

Men
David Carry
Sean Fraser (EAD)
Kris Gilchrist
Andy Hunter
Michael Jamieson
Andrew Mayor
Robbie Renwick
Jak Scott
Lewis Smith