Duncan Scott sets new national record to take title at British Championships

Duncan Scott set a new national record in the men’s 400 metres individual medley final at the British Swimming Championships, breaking the previous benchmark by nearly half a second.

Scott made history as the first British athlete to win four medals at a single Olympics after capturing a gold and three silvers at Tokyo 2020 and he blazed a trail once again at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.

He recorded a time of four minutes and 9.18 seconds, which is 0.44secs faster than the national record Max Litchfield set at the 2017 World Championships, with Brodie Williams coming second in 4mins 14.69s.

“I’m still learning in the event a lot but I’m absolutely delighted with that time,” said the Scot, who also holds the British records for the men’s 200m individual medley and men’s 100m freestyle.

“I love watching Max do that every year, he’s an incredible athlete and the times he’s able to do consistently each year around that 4:10-barrier is incredible.

“I’m absolutely delighted to get that off him. I’m really happy with that.”

Scott was absent in the men’s 100m freestyle event but held on to his record by 0.01s with Lewis Burras coming home in 47.88s as he defeated double Olympic champion Tom Dean by nearly two tenths of a second.

“That was an added incentive of me getting the 400 IM was I might get one taken off me,” added Scott before the men’s 100m freestyle final.

“That’s why they’re there and it’s good to see them keep going in different events all the time. I guess it shows the depth we’ve now got in Britain.”

Dean was one of Britain’s breakout success stories in Japan, where he pipped Scott to the men’s 200m freestyle title before the pair helped their country to the top of the podium in the relay event.

“It was the best way I could have possibly asked to start my senior career with individual Olympic gold,” Dean said. “This is just the start, I’m only 21 and I’d like some more medals as well.”

He will have the chance to add to his silverware drawer in the summer with the World and European Championships and the Commonwealth Games all to come over the next six months.

Despite finishing behind Burras in a time of 48.06s, Dean was upbeat and added: “It was good. I could never complain about a PB, I wanted to go 47 but I’ll save that for the summer.

“I’ve never won a world medal or a Commonwealth medal, so that’s two things I want to do in the sport. Euros to top it off, it’s going to be an exciting summer.”

Burras had just undergone a hernia operation as he watched from the sidelines at last year’s event and spoke of his disappointment at missing out on the British team at the Olympics.

“Some of these guys are some of the best swimmers in the world but I’ve been lucky enough to swim with Tom on a junior team and to see them there I knew I’d let myself down in a way,” he said.

“But it’s definitely given me a bit more fire to push on for this cycle.

“If I was going to turn up and do what I needed to do, it would have to be something pretty special. I got to the 10-metre mark and I told myself ‘pain is temporary’ and that helped me get my head down.”

Anna Hopkin, part of the British quartet that won gold in the 4x100m mixed medley relay at the Olympics, prevailed in the women’s 50m freestyle in a time of 24.85s.

Laura Stephens triumphed in the women’s 200m butterfly final while Daniel Jervis was the winner in the men’s 1500m.