Robbie Renwick thrilled the crowd at the Royal Commonwealth Pool with victory in the 200m freestyle on the last day of the Scottish Gas National Short Course Swimming Championships.
Renwick, who has recently moved to the University of Stirling, has rediscovered both his form and love for the sport and has enjoyed a great meet. Swimming in lane seven for the final Renwick set off quickly but was playing catch up with Belgian swimmer, Emmanuel Vanluchene, until the final 25m when he made his move. The problem for Renwick was that Calum Jarvis (Bath) also made a move and the race was really on.
In fact nothing could separate Renwick and Jarvis and both touched home in 1:44.19 to share the honours. Vanluchene settled for bronze in 1:44.36.
Speaking after the race Renwick was happy with the way he had performed and said,
“I thought that was a solid swim. It comes at the end of a three-day meet and I was also competing in the States last week so I was beginning to feel tired at the end.
“My move to Stirling has been really positive for my swimming. I’m really addressing some weaknesses I had in training and I’m in with a great group of guys.”
Watch the race again here:
Kathleen Dawson was also back to record winning ways, with victory in the 100m backstroke in a time of 58.38, an improvement on the Scottish Record she set in the heats.
Belgian swimmer Kimberley Buys won silver (1:00.48) and Natasha Hofton (University of Stirling) the bronze in 1:00.61.
For Dawson that was her fourth Scottish Record of the meet, having broken the 50m backstroke record in both the heats and finals and the Warrington swimmer was delighted,
“I didn’t come into this competition expecting any more than to PB and I certainly didn’t expect to go as fast on the 100m, so yes, really happy.”
“Coming here, just competing against others is a really important part of my training and great preparation for next year, when I want to qualify for the Worlds and set myself up for Rio.”
Watch Kathleen’s record-breaking race again here:
Craig McLean of Carnegie was also in record-breaking form securing his 5th Scottish Junior Record of the meet in the 100m backstroke (54.63). The title itself went to Ryan Bennett (University of Stirling) in 51.73 with Craig McNally (Warrender) and Charlie Boldison (University of Stirling) taking silver and bronze respectively (52.29 and 53.49).
Watch Bennett’s victory again here:
Other records broken over the course of the finals were University of Stirling’s 4x100m freestyle team (Renwick, Bennett, Brodie, Hughes), 3:14.52; Erraid Davies also delighted herself and the crowd earlier in the afternoon with a new British Record for SB9 Breaststroke, posting a time of 2:51.35.
Above is a press release submitted by Swimming Scotland