European Juniors Dordrecht 9 – 13th July 2014

The cream of Europe’s future podium swimmers were on show in the Netherlands for five days in July.

Day 1 Heats in the morning with Smith, Munro, Walton and Scott swimming the 4 x 100 Free in 3.22.69. Duncan swam the final leg in 50.41. In the final he swam the lead leg with a time of 50.14, a GB age group record. Both Smith and Munro swam sub 50 to maintain the lead. The boys dominated the race and came home with Gold.

Day 2 Duncan swam a very good 100 Free with a 50.64 and was ranked 6th for the final. Later that morning he swam a 2.04.12 to be ranked 4th for the 200IM final. Duncan was pulled from the 100 Free to reserve energy for the 200 IM, a wise move. He made the final with a time of 2.02.66 and pole position as lead swimmer.

 Day 3 Heats of the 4 x 200 Freestyle men’s relay. Walton. Jervis, Smith and Scott qualified for the final fifth with 7.30.53. That evening Duncan swam his 200 IM. He swam a beautiful race coming home first to claim Gold with a 2.01.57. This equalled the GB age group record. Boosted with this he got back in the water for the 4 x 200 Freestyle relay. Duncan’s swim was the fastest split of all the swimmers that night, with a 1.48.31. The team improved their time to 7.23.13 and took bronze.

Day 4 Excitement grew for the 200 Free as we had all watched Duncan’s speed the night before. Though tired he made the semis with 1.52.40. That night he improved his time to be seeded 3rd for the final with a 1.50.13

Day 5 Duncan rested in the morning, knowing he had the 200 free final. He swam another stunning race and finished with a 1.49.66 and a 4th place. This time was a reassurance to the Scottish team. He was the swimmer they needed for the 4 x 200 at the Commonwealth Games. Duncan’s time for the 100 Free was so fast that it surely had to be considered too!

Commonwealth Games Glasgow 23rd July- 3rd August 2014

Duncan swam his first swim at the Commonwealth Games on the 25th July in the last leg of the 4 x 100 freestyle relay. His times at the European Juniors earlier in the month secured this. He was on form. The team was Renwick, Schaffers, McGuckin, and Scott. His split was a sub 50 and the fastest equal with Richard Schaffers. They finished a respectable 4th.

The 27th July was Scotland’s Super Sunday. The final race of the night was the 4 x 200 Freestyle relay with Wallace, Milne, Scott and Renwick. They finished in 7.09.18 breaking the Games record along with winners Australia and picking up the silver medal. They also achieved the fastest GB time for this event since the banning of the controversial textile suits. Duncan’s split was an incredible 1.47.18. This team time would also have had them winning silver at the recent European Championships.

The podium line up:

• AUS – 7:07.38: Cameron McEvoy (1:48.10) David McKeon (1:45.82) Ned McKendry (1:48.28) Tom Fraser-Holmes (1:45.18)
• SCO – 7:09.18: Dan Wallace (1:47.37) Stephen Milne (1:47.17) Duncan Scott (1:47.18) Robbie Renwick (1:47.76)
• RSA – 7:10.36: Devon Brown (1:47.49); Chad le Clos (1:47.13) Sebastien Rousseau (1:47.03) Dylan Bosch (1:48.71)

Silver medal for Scotland and Tollcross was alive with deafening noise. An amazing night.

Duncan returned from the team camp on the 4th August and trained for a few days with the swimmer due to go to Berlin for the Europeans. He left for China on the 10th August.

Youth Olympic Games Nanjing 16-28th August 2014

The first night of swimming was the 17th. Team GB had eight swimmers. 4 boys and 4 girls.

Day 1 was the 4 x 100 mixed freestyle relay. Duncan led off with a 50.39 in the heats and 50.16 in the finals. The team finished 6th.

Day 2 Duncan had a 200IM and the 200 Fr heats. His 2.04.98 was a great time for a busy summer of competing but sadly came in 9th and therefore not fast enough for the final. Galling for Duncan to then watch the Hungarian he had beaten in Dordrecht win Gold. Wait till the worlds next summer! He made the 200 Fr final with 1.51.22 and finished fourth with 1.49.73.

Day 3 Duncan qualified for the 50 free semi- final with a 23.08, breaking the Scottish Age Group record. He then improved that in the semis with a 22.78.

Day 4 Saw team GB boys in the 4 x 100 relay. They made it through to the final very comfortably. Finals saw Duncan start the evening with the 50 Free; he finished with another great time of 22.84. The boys were then up for the 4 x 100 free final. Duncan’s lead in the relay was an impressive 49.67. This was an improvement to his Scottish Age group record. The team led most of the way and came home well ahead of the other swimmers to take Gold. The boys looked delighted on the podium.

Day 5 The 100 free heats had Duncan swim a 50.60 to make the semis in the evening where he improved his time to 50.33 to make the final.

Day 6 In the heats in the morning Duncan had the final leg of the 4 x 100 Mixed medley relay. They made it through to the final. Duncan started the final evening with the 100 Free finishing 6th with 49.96. Duncan’s freestyle time now has him in the Scottish all-time top 3. Amazing for a lad who has just turned 17. The relay team finished the night with an improvement on their heats swim and a final sixth place.