SCOTLAND'S ten Olympians will all be competing at the ASA National Championships starting this evening in Liverpool, and it will be the final competitive swim before the Games start in Beijing in just four weeks' time.
City of Edinburgh trio Kirsty Balfour, Gregor Tait and Kris Gilchrist have spent the last few weeks training in Canet in France, while Hannah Miley's warm-up was closer to home, winning four titles at last month's Scottish National Championships in G
lasgow.
Stirling's Todd Cooper is another who competed in Glasgow, and the 25-year-old is one of five Scots – Balfour, Tait, Caitlin McClatchey and David Carry are the others – heading for his second Olympics.
"This week will be a good preparation, although it is really all about what happens in four weeks' time," said Cooper, who is one of the first in action this evening in his main event of the 200m butterfly.
"Athens was the highlight of my career so far, but I'm sure Beijing will be even better. I'll be wiser and more relaxed than four years ago.
"The Olympics are put on a pedestal, and made into something huge. But it really is just another race, and that's how I'm going to try and treat it. In Beijing, it will not be so much about times as just all about racing. The first priority is to get through the heats and then there is all to go for in the final."
Balfour, a silver medallist in the world championships last year, and Gilchrist, who seems to improve every time he swims, are both in the 200m breaststroke, while 18-year-old Miley's rapid rise and all-round talent suggest she could be a genuine medley medal contender.
"The Scottish Championships in Glasgow provided a good confidence boost," said the teenager who is coached by her father, Patrick, at the Garioch Club in Inverurie. "It was nice to see that all my hard training really is paying off."
Andrew Hunter, Robbie Renwick – who, along with Carry, are vital members of a British 200m freestyle relay squad that holds high medal hopes – and 400m medley man Euan Dale complete the record list of ten Beijing-bound Scots.
After the ASA Championships, they will all have a couple of weeks training at home before heading for the British team holding camp in Osaka in Japan on 25 July.
The GB squad, which excelled at the short course World Championships in Manchester in April, has continued to show promising form with records continually being lowered. Women's team head coach Ben Titley believes there is yet more to come from the young squad. "Preparations have been excellent for the Olympic team going into this final stage (before] Beijing," Titley said.
"Through national and international meets since the trials many swimmers have broken national records (Miley, Joanne Jackson, Jemma Lowe, Fran Halsall, Gemma Spofforth] whilst in tough training and the signs are good for some great swims in the next month or so."
The American swimming team has set down a marker for the rest of the world after breaking nine world records during their Olympic trials last week, a fact the British squad are well aware of.
"Obviously world swimming is moving on too," Titley added. "But our team, with a mix of youth and experience, is certainly keeping pace, as well as making our relays the strongest they have ever been."
The full article contains 577 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
