With action in Glasgow just two months away, Scotland has confirmed their swimming team for the Commonwealth Games as they seek to repeat their best ever performance at this meet which took place in the same Tollcross pool 12 years ago.
Headlined by the preselected Duncan Scott and Angharad Evans, both of whom are strong favourites for medals, the squad of 25 will no doubt be confident of making their mark in the pool.
Here’s how it appears that selection was arrived at, following performances at the recent Aquatics GB championships, which served as the qualification meet.
Preselections
The selection of Scott and Evans had already been announced so their inclusion was a formality.
- Duncan Scott
- Angharad Evans
Automatic Qualifiers
The bulk of the team is formed from those who made the Scottish nomination standards, with almost everyone who did so in London on the team,:
- Evie Davis
- Keanna MacInnes
- Ciara Schlosshan
- Archie Goodburn
- Matthew Ward
- Evan Jones
- Katie Shanahan
- Anna Morgan
- Charlie Hutchison
- Scott Gibson
- Lucy Grieve
- Holly McGill
- George Smith
- Luke Hornsey
The sole exception here is Jamie Ferguson, who appears to have missed out to allow greater relay depth to be included via the discretionary picks.
Relay Selections
The Scottish selection policy had prioritised the men’s 4×200 freestyle and the men’s and women’s medley teams over individual swims. All of the men’s 4×200 and women’s medley teams qualified individually, so that had no bearing directly, but that policy led to the inclusion of Dean Fearn via the men’s medley team.
Other relay selections then appear to have been made for the following swimmers who were in quartets that made the nomination standards:
- Jensen Norris
- Stefan Krawiec
- Emma Wood
- Lucy Hope
- Megan Barnes
- Evi Mackie
Only two men were added for the 4×100 freestyle team, with Duncan Scott, who didn’t swim the event in London available to make up the quartet with Norris, Krawiec and Evan Jones. That means Aiden Kay misses out here.
Discretionary picks
The Scottish selectors filled out their quota with 2 more swimmers to get them up to the maximum 25 spots and played a fairly straight bat in taking the remaining two swimmers to make nomination standards in Sean McCann and Joshua Mitchell. Mitchell appears to have been the beneficiary of Ferguson’s omission to provide support to Archie Goodburn in the medley relays.
Speaking at the end of the Aquatics GB Championships in London, having seen the Scots setting out their stall for selection, Scottish Swimming National coach Ian Wright was upbeat about the team’s prospects in Glasgow.
“We think we’ve got some good chances. There’s the big names that everyone will be aware of but we also hope there’ll be two or three new people who can break through.” he said and, with a nod to the selections relay focus added “we think our relays are strong contenders in several of the relay events. Maybe about half of the relay events we’ve got good potential to be in the podium or close to the podium.”
Angharad Evans had been preselected, but speaking ahead of the AP Race London International was finally able to think about her new Scottish teammates who had been announced on the eve of that competition. “It’s really special. I think probably 80% of those people announced are people that I train with day in and day out. So it’s really exciting. It’s a home games for us as well, and I think we all know Scottish people are absolutely crazy so I think it will be a really special moment for all of us.”
Wright is also clear about what the home crowd can add to the occasion. “I was in Glasgow in 2014 and it was a somewhat big surprise on day one when Ross Murdoch beat Michael Jamieson and people still remember that now. Hopefully we can get a good start at the beginning of the competition and the home crowd will lift people to maybe that little bit extra that they wouldn’t maybe get if the meet was elsewhere. We’re very positive about what we can achieve.”