Jamieson Makes Welcome Return to Racing
Michael Jamieson was given a rapturous welcome when he stood on the blocks for the start of the 100m breaststroke final on Day 2 of the Scottish Gas National Short Course Swimming Championships taking place at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh.
For Jamieson, this was only his second competitive event since the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer, as after an extended holiday, he travelled to Austria to train with Dirk Lange and work on some new skills.
The final itself was a classic, with Mark Tully (Edinburgh University) taking an early lead. But it was Jamieson’s Bath teammate, Andrew Willis, and Craig Benson (University of Stirling) who battled it out for gold. Willis eased ahead and despite a strong finish by Benson held on for the victory touching home in 58.68, just ahead of Benson who finished in 58.72, with Jamieson finishing with the bronze in 59.41.
After the race Jamieson commented,
“That was actually a pretty good time for me considering I’ve been out the water for so long. After the Games I had the longest break I’ve ever had and was out of the water for around two and a half months. So it is only now that I’ve started to get my fitness levels back up.
“After Christmas I’m heading to Doha on a training camp and at the end of January I’ll have my first long course meet and I really want to target that.“
Watch the race again here:
Corrie Scott (Edinburgh University) broke the Scottish Record on her way to victory in the 50m breaststroke final posting a time of 30.71. Sophie Taylor (London Aquatics) was a very close second in 30.73 with Sarah Vasey (Derventio) winning the bronze in 30.81.
After the race, an ever smiling Scott, said,
“Short course is all about the skills and to be honest I’m just not that great with my turns. I’m back from the US Nationals where it was very short course meet as they swim in yards, so that gave me the opportunity to sharpen up a bit, which was ideal. The Americans are so good at their turns so it was a good experience and hopefully I’ve taken something positive away.”
Watch the race again here:
Other races of note included Stephen Milne (Perth City) once again showing his dominance in long distance events taking the title in the 1500m freestyle, in a time of 14:44.10.
Other records broken over the course of the finals were Imogen Clark (Derventio), British Junior Record for 50m freestyle (25.68), Dan Wallace, Scottish Record for 200m IM (1:56.32), Robbie Renwick (University of Stirling), for 100m freestyle (47.96).
Watch all race highlights from Day 2 on YouTube: http://goo.gl/bcXVkj
All evening finals are streamed live on www.scottishswimming.com/live
Pictures can be found on our Flickr page: www.flickr.com/scottishswimming.