Swimmers make a splash at opening weekend of Euro Champs

University of Stirling athletes made the perfect start to their European Championships as they claimed three medals across the opening weekend in Glasgow.

Commonwealth champion, Duncan Scott, continued his recent medal rush as he finished second in the men’s 100m freestyle, behind Italy’s Alessandro Miressi, before going on to win gold in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay with Thomas Dean, James Guy and Calum Jarvis.

Meanwhile, Stirling teammate, Craig McLean, was part of the GB team that claimed bronze in the mixed 4 x 200m freestyle relay alongside Freya Anderson, Kathryn Greenslade and Stephen Milne.

In the women’s 400m individual medley, Gold Coast gold medallist, Aimee Willmott, narrowly missed out on another medal as she was edged into fourth place by GB teammate, Hannah Miley, whilst Ross Murdoch finished fourth by one hundredth of a second in the 200m breaststroke and produced a season’s-best time in the 100m heats.

Commenting on the early success, University of Stirling Head of Performance Sport, David Bond, said: “It’s been an impressive start from the athletes and Duncan’s silver was particularly well-earned, having fought back from sixth place at the final turn.

“We were gutted for Aimee and Ross narrowly missing out on medals, but with them and Duncan still to compete in another couple of events, there is a lot of action ahead and hopefully we’ll see some more podium finishes.”

As well as in the pool, there will also be Stirling representation at Gleneagles, as former golf scholar and European Solheim Cup Captain, Catriona Matthew, competes in the inaugural mixed European Golf Team Championships (8 – 12 Aug), while graduate scholar, Marc Austin, competes for GB in the triathlon on 10 August.

The inaugural European Championships will run until 12 August 2018. Visit glasgow2018.com for full schedule information.