In 2018, spearheaded by a record haul from Duncan Scott who pocketed 6 medals on the Gold Coast, Scotland took home a creditable 9 medals from the Commonwealth Games. This year they will journey south to Birmingham looking to better that performance. Here’s how the Scottish team will take shape.

Preselection

Matching the path set by GB and England, Scotland included for pre-selection in their team building process, with provisions for those competing at the 2021 Olympics to be pre-selected based on their performances. This decision was set against a host of qualitative criteria and not an objective one, but of the five Scots who journeyed to Tokyo, Duncan Scott and Kathleen Dawson were confirmed to the team, reflecting their medal winning exploits and the fact that they represent Scotland’s strongest individual medal hopes.

Prepare for a Trials Test

Team Scotland has given an indicative swimming team size of 16 for Birmingham so with two spots gone, 14 more are up for grabs. There is only one opportunity for swimmers to throw their hat in the ring, being the British Championships, where they need to meet the selection times set out in the policy. There’s no stated requirement for when times can be set, so any swim at the meet can be considered in theory, not just finals.

Team Scotland have set the times as shown below. As might be expected given the relative size of the swimmer pool being selected from, they are generally slower than their English equivalents, with FINA points ranging from 760 to 860 for the women’s standards and 796 to 862 for the men.

Female	Event	Male
00:25.37	50m Free	00:22.35
00:55.16	100m Free	00:49.10
01:59.29	200m Free	01:47.80
04:11.58	400m Free	03:50.58
08:39.17	800m Free	15:22.34
00:28.45	50m Back	00:25.67
01:00.85	100m Back	00:54.50
02:11.72	200m Back	01:58.96
00:31.25	50m Breast	00:27.74
01:07.72	100m Breast	01:00.83
02:26.09	200m Breast	02:12.41
00:26.77	50m Fly	00:23.95
00:58.96	100m Fly	00:52.79
02:11.00	200m Fly	01:58.24
02:14.69	200m I.M.	02:00.43
04:45.90	400m I.M.	04:18.86
03:41.09	4 x 100m Free	03:16.23
07:58.58	4 x 200m Free	07:12.01
04:01.21	4 x 100m Medley	03:34.97

The Scottish rankings from the last 12 months show a mixed picture against these times with 19 swims from swimmers yet to secure selection meeting those standards. That represents seven women and four men, although there are a number hovering just over the mark, so it’s a cohort that could easily swell in Sheffield.

Relay times will be assessed using the four fastest relevant swims and a takeover allowance of 1.5 seconds. This will include any ranked performance by a preselected swimmer since 1st April 2021 so Scott and Dawson’s 2021 British Records in freestyle and backstroke can be thrown into the mix for relay times. There is no qualifying time for the mixed relays which will be made up from within the selected squad.

Nobody can take it too easy, however, because these are consideration and not qualifying times. The policy states that swims will be ranked by percentage inside the consideration time but then applies a liberal dose of uncertainty by confirming that this ranking is only part of the selection picture, with nominations to be made by combining that ranking with a number of other factors listed as:

• Performance in finals at the British Championships
• Commonwealth ranking in a specific event
• Medal potential
• Other events with consideration times
• Contribution to relay performance
• Future potential

All of which leaves things wide open for the team to be made up as the selectors see fit. It would be a surprise though if performance in the water wasn’t the primary consideration (with that hint that swims in finals will be viewed more positively) unless there is a significant excess of qualifying swimmers.

Wildcards

There are a couple of final discretionary elements to selection if spaces remain. Firstly there is the potential to add relay alternates to the squad where they can help manage workload, then there is scope for final discretionary nominations. These latter discretionary ones seem unlikely to be a factor unless the team size is increased, however, because to be eligible for consideration swimmers still have to make a nomination time.

The final team list submitted to Team Scotland is due to be announced on 15th May and then will be confirmed, once rubber stamped, by the end of that month.