Stirling swimmer Douglas Scott is determined to hit the heights in South Africa following an impressive display at the British Gas Scottish National Short Course Championships.
The 19-year-old Mathematics and Economics student set four personal bests in his four events at Tollcross, Glasgow over the weekend, rewarded with two gold (50m and 100m Breaststroke) and two silver medals (200m Breaststroke and 100m Individual Medley).
Scott, from Strathaven in Lanarkshire, has little time to enjoy his success as he is one of six swimmers from the Stirling Performance Squad heading to a three-week altitude training camp in Pretoria from next Monday (January 17).
“I was pretty pleased to set personal bests in every event I competed in,” said Scott, who is part of the University’s International Sports Scholarship Programme and also supported by Winning Students, the national student sports scholarships.
“I was aiming to do well in the breaststroke events, but I was quite surprised to finish second in the 100m IM as I was ranked ninth and hadn’t really done any specific training for it.”
Stirling swimmers emerged from the Championships with a total of 19 medals, including hat-tricks of gold medals for Lewis Smith and Ryan Bennett, both part of the University-based British Gas Intensive Training Centre (ITC) programme.
Performance Squad Coach Ian Wright will run the camp in South Africa, where Scott will join up with Catherine Marcroft, Calum McGhee, Ross Muir, Jamie Ross and Peter Stewart.
The camp is in preparation for the flagship British Gas Swimming Championships (50m) at the start of March and Scott hopes his second visit to the University of Pretoria venue will prove equally fruitful.
He added: “I was there two years ago and I’m really looking forward to going back as it’s such a great place with all the facilities within walking distance on the one campus.
“Last time I then went straight to the British Championships, set a personal best which I still haven’t beaten and made the European Junior team. Hopefully this time I can get a medal in the 100m Breaststroke and qualify for the World University Games.”
The full list of Stirling medallists, all Winning Students athletes, at the British Gas Scottish National Short Course Championships were: Ryan Bennett - Gold 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke, silver 100m and 200m Freestyle; Martin Cremin - Gold 1500m Freestyle; Catherine Marcroft - Silver 800m Freestyle; Ross Muir - Silver 400m Individual Medley (IM), Bronze 200m Backstroke and 200m IM; Douglas Scott - Gold 50m and 100m Breaststroke, silver 100m IM and 200m Breaststroke; Lewis Smith – Gold 100m, 200m 400m IM, bronze 400m Freestyle; Josh Walsh - Silver 400m Freestyle.
Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence
The University of Stirling is designated as Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence and is home to an unrivalled selection of world-class sports facilities, with national centres in a number of sports and one of the longest running International Sports Scholarship Programmes in the UK. We bring together a critical mass of knowledge, sports agencies, governing bodies and leading academic researchers on our scenic campus, all characterised by excellence.
Winning Students
Winning Students is Scotland’s national sports scholarship network for student athletes. Governed by the University of Stirling as Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence and funded by the Scottish Funding Council, more than 90 high performance student athletes in member colleges and universities across the country are supported with scholarships of up to £5,500 each year.
