It’s been announced that Glasgow, Scotland will play host to the world once more as they’ve been chosen to hold the European Championships for the very first time in 2018.
The bid was won by Glasgow during this year’s LEN European Championships in Berlin, Germany.
This comes just a few weeks after Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The games there were a huge success and truly demonstrated the city’s ability to host top-level competition. Some very fast times were swum at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow this summer, already indicating its readiness for elite meets.
This meet could do a lot of good for a nation that has had a huge improvement this year in swimming. Standout stars such as Ross Murdoch and Hannah Miley have been sewn into the hearts of the Scottish people after gold medal performances at the Commonwealth Games.
Not only did their stars perform well, but they showed a lot more depth overall as a team than they ever have before. If hosting the Commonwealths was any indication that Scottish swimmers benefitted from the excitement of hosting a world-class meet, then there could likely be a continued growth in the depth of the team in Scotland.
This summer was unique as Scotland got to compete as its own nation due to the nature of the Commonwealth Games. At the European Championships, the Scottish swimmers swim under the Great Britain cap. This could mean a lot of good for the British team as well, as they’ve shown a lot of improvement considering how well they’ve been performing at both Commonwealths and Euros this year.
With a team mixing some of the best swimmers from Wales, England, and Scotland, this could very well be a great move for the rapidly improving countries to expand their swim programs and become major competitors on the world scene.
Glasgow is also hosting the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships.
That should be good. They were good hosts for the CWG 2014
Well deserved and Scotland might even be competing as an independent nation. The vote is next month but it would be a surprise if they chose to leave to the UK. London also has the Euros in May 2016.