Scott ‘must go faster than ever before to claim gold’

Duncan Scott says he will have to swim faster than he ever has before to have a chance of earning individual Olympic Games gold.

The 27-year-old is Britain’s most decorated Olympic swimmer, adding four medals in Tokyo three years ago to the two he won in Rio in 2016.

But the only gold among his stellar collection is from the 4x200m freestyle relay in Japan, the Scot having to settle for silver in both the 200m freestyle and the 200m individual medley.

“Those races were massive PBs and are still the best performances I’ve ever delivered and I just fell short,” Scott told BBC Sport Scotland. “So I know if I’m at my best, I’ll give myself the best chance.

“But that’s as far as I can go. I’ve no control over anyone else and anyone can have an unbelievable performance on any given day.”

As well as those two races, Scott will also fit the 4x200m free and 4x100m free into his crowded Paris schedule.

The latter of those is the first on his calendar, with the GB team going in the final on Saturday, and Scott is already straining to get into the water and try to further upholster his medal tally.

“We get this limelight every four years and there is a lot more noise than we’re used to, but I let people outside say what they want and have whatever expectations they want,” he said.

“I know not every swim is going to be perfect and some are going to fall short of what I want and some will go really well. But it’s about trying not to use up any extra emotional energy and just concentrating on my own expectations.”