Duncan Scott Achieves New British Record and Gold at Swimming World Cup

Duncan Scott, recognized as Scotland’s most decorated Olympian with two gold and six silver medals, established a new British record by a margin of two and a half seconds. This achievement came as he secured the gold medal in the 400m freestyle event during the short course World Cup competition in Singapore. His finishing time of three minutes 34.46 seconds surpassed the prior record, which had been set by James Guy in 2014, and also advanced him to second place on the all-time list for the event. The 27-year-old swimmer earned the gold medal, finishing ahead of American Kieran Smith and Pan Zhanle from China. Scott commented on his performance, stating, “The 400m free is still an event I’m learning,” and added, “And I don’t really have any fear about what’s going to happen. And, yeah, I’m really happy with that.” In the men’s 200m short course medley, Scott secured a second-place finish, trailing Leon Marchand, who achieved a world record time of 1:48.88 en route to victory. Marchand, a Frenchman, surpassed Ryan Lochte’s record, which had stood for 12 years, by 0.75 seconds. He finished over two seconds ahead of Scott, while Alberto Razzetti of Italy claimed third place. Scott is also scheduled to compete in the 200m freestyle event in Singapore, which marks the third and concluding meet of the current year’s World Cup series. Earlier in the competition, Marchand became only the second male swimmer, following Caeleb Dressel, to complete the 100m individual medley in under 50 seconds. Marchand, who secured four gold medals at the Paris Olympics over the summer, recorded a time of 49.92, placing him second on the all-time list for that event. Separately, American swimmer Kate Douglass established a new world record in the 200m breaststroke, improving upon her own previous record set just last week. Douglass completed the race in 2:12.72, which was one and a half seconds faster than the record she had achieved at the World Cup meet in South Korea.