Hannah Miley faces Shanghai rival in Scottish event

LESS than a month before the World Championships in Shanghai, Scotland's Hannah Miley will come up against big rival Mireia Belmonte in the Scottish Gas National Open Championships starting today at Tollcross Leisure Centre in Glasgow.

Spain's Belmonte is ranked No 1 in the world in the 400m individual medley and Miley, the 21-year-old from Inverurie, moved up to No 3 following her victory in the Mare Nostrum Tour in Monaco three weeks ago.

Both have entered today's 400m medley - but Miley only swam the heats of the event at the ASA Championships in Sheffield two weeks ago and is treating this week as part of a careful preparation for China.

"I has some hard training in Stirling last week and it's all about being ready for Shanghai and then the London Olympics next year," said Miley, who is coached by her father, Patrick. "But I wanted to swim in Glasgow because I always enjoy competing in front of a home crowd. Hopefully, it will be a good send off."

Robbie Renwick, Jak Scott and Michael Jamieson are the other World Championship Scots in the line-up - David Carry, Kris Gilchrist and Caitlin McClatchey have decided to skip the Tollcross event before heading for the GB training camp in Japan in two weeks' time.

Another big name in the field is Nottingham's Rebecca Adlington. The double Olympic champion competed in Glasgow two years ago and the 400m and 800m freestyle specialist will also be competing in the 200m event.

Adlington failed to produce her best form at the last World Championships in Rome two years ago, but she is a strong favourite to win her first World Championship in four weeks' time.

The 22-year-old suffered from bronchial problems a couple of months ago, but showed she was fully fit in Sheffield this month and is currently ranked No 1 in the world in both her main events.

Glasgow-born Jamieson, who is based in Bath, is another with his sights on a medal in Shanghai and will be chasing gold in his favourite 200m breaststroke this evening.

Renwick, who won the 200m and 400m at the ASA Championships, will be aiming for success in the freestyle. At 18, Scott is a newcomer to major events and he has made the British line-up in the freestyle relay squad.

The Stirling youngster hopes it will be a springboard to the 2012 Olympics.

Belmonte is part of a strong Spanish squad which is using the Championships as a warm-up for Shanghai.