Five things to know about British swimming sensation Duncan Scott
The Scottish freestyle king is set to star at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but did you know that he once considered playing a different sport, and wrote his dissertation about the NFL? More on that, and the lesson he took from Adam Peaty below.
Swimming
Duncan Scott is part of a new generation of British men’s swimmers that are taking the world by storm, alongside the likes of Adam Peaty and James Guy.
The freestyle sprinter first rose to prominence as a junior, winning eight gold medals at the 2013 Scottish Age Group Championships before helping Team GB to the 4x100m freestyle relay gold at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.
Fast-forward to the Rio 2016 Olympics, and the then 19-year-old won silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay and another silver in the 4x100m medley relay.
But it was at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, Korea, where the Glasgow-born swimmer's profile exploded. Team GB were behind the USA going into the final leg of the men's 4x100m medley relay before Scott, against all odds, overtook five-time Olympic champion Nathan Adrian on the anchor leg to win gold.
Scott and his teammates Peaty, Guy, and Luke Greenbank will be hoping for a repeat performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021, where they aim to become the first British team ever to win the 4x100m medley relay Olympic gold medal.
But how well do you know the British swimmer?
1 - Duncan Scott the former district tennis player
There is a light-hearted joke in swimming circles that swimmers can’t play land-based sports requiring agility, but Scott proves that this is far from the truth.
Alongside his glittering junior swimming career, the freestyle king was also an accomplished district-level tennis player.
Aged 13 he chose to drop tennis, which can’t have been easy given the potentially far greater financial rewards on offer in that sport.
But in reality it was no contest, as Scott just loves to race.
“I enjoy it (swimming) more, the competitive aspect, the race aspect of it,” he told the Daily record. “Anything can happen on the day. I’ve always loved tennis and enjoy playing it today but it lacks the head-to-head racing you can get in swimming.”
2 - A transition to sprinting for swimmer
Even within his chosen sport of swimming, Scott has transformed his identity somewhat.
In the earlier part of his swimming career, he considered the gruelling 400 Individual Medley event his specialty.
But as the aquatic prodigy grew into his adult body, he realised that he was best suited to the explosive, but less gruelling, sprint events.
“Oh, I’m gutted about that!” Scott once joked regarding his event transition.
That said, Scott remains a mean 200 IM athlete. He finished fifth at the 2019 World Championships, before breaking the British record at the 2021 British Swimming Olympic trials in a time of 1:55.90 to qualify his place at Tokyo 2020 in this event.
Below is the Rio 2016 men's 4x100m medley relay final, where Scott's sprinting helped Great Britain take the silver medal.
3 - A Brit with brains and brawn
Scott’s understanding of professional sport extends well beyond the pool.
In 2021, the 24-year-old graduated with an upper-second class degree in Business and Sport from the University of Sterling.
“One of the things I’m most proud of, in all honesty, is getting a 2:1,” he continued. “I didn’t really enjoy school, being dyslexic, and having to balance it with swimming. The first and second years at university, I did find challenging, but by the third, I really started to enjoy it.”
Just days after securing his Tokyo 2020 berth via the British Olympic trials in April, he ditched the swimming cap for a computer as his dissertation (into the effect NFL Fantasy has had on social media consumption) deadline was just days away.
But he completed it successfully, and is already considering a Masters degree after the Paris 2024 Games!
4 - From swimming to cycling in lockdown
Scott decided to take a year out of university in 2020 to concentrate on the Olympics. So when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the Games to be delayed and the world to go into lockdown, he needed a new hobby: cycling.
In addition to a stationary bike at home, the Brit eventually started taking on the local terrain of Sterling with close friends.
After getting his exercise in for the day, he would spend late nights playing video games with fellow Team GB swimmers James Guy and Adam Peaty.
“For me, playing PS4 and cycling were the two big things in lockdown, and that was clearly due to the social aspect it brings,” Scott told Sportsmail. “I was playing PS4 with Jimmy, Peaty and more swimmers from around the world. Though Peaty called it at about 9pm as his kid went to bed at about 8.30.”
5 - Inspired by Adam Peaty’s Rio 2016 resolve
Back in reality, British breaststroke GOAT Adam Peaty has played a major part in Scott’s development.
When Scott made his Olympic debut at Rio 2016 as a fresh-faced 19-year-old, he witnessed first-hand how a true champion reacts to adversity.
The Englishman’s luggage failed to arrive, and while many athletes would have gone into panic mode, Peaty barely flinched and went out to win the gold medal.
“The way he was able to let that sort of stuff happen and just carry on,” Scott told the Team GB website. “Being in an apartment with him and seeing the way he just carried on, nothing was really going to bother him. You want that sort of relaxed, focused mindset.”
Britain’s world champion 4x100m medley relay team of Peaty, Scott, Guy, and Luke Greenback will need to harness all of their collective experience and calm energy as they bid to land their nation’s first-ever Olympic gold in the event in Tokyo.