Edinburgh International Hidden Gem Swim: Duncan Scott’s 1:01.82 In 100 Breast

2024 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL SWIM MEET

• Friday, March 8th – Sunday, March 10th
• Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh, Scotland
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Draft Entries
• Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap
• Results
• Livestream

As we enter the final day of action at the 2024 Edinburgh International Swim Meet, we wanted to reflect on a hidden gem of a swim that took place during last night’s finals.

The men’s 100m breaststroke saw 31-year-old James Wilby win the race in a time of 1:00.20. The Netherlands’ Bram Zwetsloot was next to the wall in 1:01.64 but behind him was multi-Olympic medalist Duncan Scott.

27-year-old Scott produced a time of 1:01.82 to collect bronze in this off-event the Stirling star hasn’t swum since last May and has contested just a dozen times in his storied career.

Here in Edinburgh, Scott opened in 29.13 and closed in 32.69 to easily put up the fastest time on his resume. Entering this competition, Scott’s PB rested at the 1:03.60 from the 2023 Glasgow International Meet.

Just like that, Scott’s monster new career-quickest 1:01.82 launches him into slot #18 among all-time British performers.

This performance joins Scott’s earlier swims here of 1:46.14 200m free/1:57.73 200m IM double from night one and 22.41 50m free from last night.

His double from Friday evening handily defeated the times Scott put up at last year’s edition of this competition where he hit 1:49.03 and 2:01.01 in the 2free and 2IM, respectively, giving us a glimpse into the type of shape this versatile star is just a month outside of British Trials.

However, Scott’s breaststroke performance is especially encouraging in light of the fact that he’ll have a potentially legendary 200m IM battle on his hands in Paris assuming he makes the squad for the event.

Although Scott claimed silver in Tokyo in a new national record of 1:55.28, China’s gold medalist Wang Shun shows no signs of slowing down, firing off a huge 1:54.62 at last year’s Asian Games.

Then there’s French phenom Leon Marchand, the 21-year-old wunderkind who will most likely contest the 200m IM in front of his home crowd.

Marchand ripped a European Record of 1:54.82 en route to becoming the 2023 World Championships gold medalist. Marchand is also the 5th-best performer all-time in the men’s 200m breaststroke (2:06.59) so Scott’s improvement in the discipline this weekend is a good sign for British fans.