Longevity in swimming is rare but as Duncan Scott bids to reach his third Olympics, he is confident he has found the recipe.
With six Olympic medals in his collection already, Scott ranks among the greatest Brits to have graced the pool, with the chance to match Jason Kenny’s all-time record of nine for a Team GB athlete in his sights.
He comes into 2024 off the back of a tricky year, swimming just one individual race at last year’s World Championships, the 200m individual medley. In typical Scott fashion, even in what some might consider a down year, he managed to win world silver in the medley.
And as a warning to his rivals this year, the 26-year-old believes he has a lot more to give in Olympic year – even if that brings with it the increased media attention that he would prefer to avoid.
He said: “It’s quite weird when you say it as a third Games. I never thought I’d be in this position. Longevity is a massive part of what I believe in. Three Games kind of shows that. I’d like to think I can use my experiences from previous Games and my experience of Olympic finals, world finals and trials, and use them to my advantage.
“I would put my longevity solely down to my coach, Steven Tigg. I’m quite long-term focused in the way I think and operate. I want to be at my best every four years, regardless of what happens in the middle. I want to be at my best when it matters.”
In the medley, Scott will go head-to-head with home favourite Leon Marchand, the reigning world champion who is trained by Michael Phelps’ long-time mentor Bob Bowman broke the American legend’s last remaining world record in 2023.
Add in reigning Olympic champion Wang Shun, and there will be no shortage of competition in the event, with the tactical aspect of the event appealing to Scott.
He said: “What I love about the 200m IM is that there are so many ways that you can swim it. Last year, it was obvious that my freestyle was off by quite a bit. I was really struggling at the back end of the 200m IM and I came back pretty slowly. But to 150m, I was right there or thereabouts with my PB. For me, knowing what shape I was in last year compared to this year, it’s pretty exciting to think what’s in stall for me.”
Scott will head to the London Aquatics Centre next month looking to clinch a place in the 200m medley for Paris, while he will also swim the 100m and 200m freestyle.
The first of those is purely with a focus on making GB’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, but he is an Olympic silver medallist in the latter.
With two spots available in that race in Paris, Scott would need to beat either reigning world champion Matt Richards, or Olympic champion Tom Dean to make the team, with 2015 world champion James Guy another who will be in contention.
That makes the event arguably the most exciting of the entire trials, and Scott feels that bodes well for British hopes when it comes to Paris – three years on from a record-breaking display by Team GB in the pool.
“At the moment, it’s probably the most depth we have seen ever in a lot of the events for Britain, definitely in the freestyle events," added Scott, speaking as an Aldi ambassador ahead of Paris 2024.
“In the men’s 200m free we have three of the seven fastest ever plus a world champion who is not in that three, plus people who have been in 4x200s that have medalled on the world stage.
“It makes it a really positive spectacle when it comes to who is going to make the individual spots.
“I found it really difficult last year, I didn’t swim great at all at trials. I have to hold my hands up and if you’re off it, you’re off it. Those boys deserved it way more than I did that day. That’s the first time I went to a World Champs and had one individual swim. I think that really helped me, it worked for me pretty well. We’ll need to make a decision. At the moment, I’m looking to be part of the relays for those two and the 200 IM and then we’ll wait and see.”
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