Medal target for Miley on return to Budapest

SCOTLAND'S Hannah Miley was 21 yesterday, and she hopes to celebrate by claiming a medal for GB at today's opening session of the European Swimming Championships in Budapest in Hungary.

One of five Scots in the swimming team, Miley is ranked No 2 in the 400m individual medley behind Hungary's Katinka Hosszu, who won the world title in Rome last summer.

For Miley, it is a third visit to Budapest and she returns with happy memories. She won a silver medal as a 15-year-old at the 2005 European Junior Championships in the Hungarian capital and, as her first major international event, she terms it "a real turning point in my career."

Coached by her father, Patrick, at the Garioch Pool in Inverurie, Miley is competing in six disciplines this week. The two medleys, the 200m breaststroke, freestyle and butterfly plus the 4x200m freestyle relay. "Because my main event is on the opening day it means I can take on a lot," she said. "I would love to win a medal, but it is going to be tough."

Kris Gilchrist, Michael Jamieson, David Carry and Robbie Renwick are the other Scots in the swimming team - and they will also all be competing for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October.

Gilchrist and Jamieson compete in today's 100m breaststroke and the 200m on Wednesday, while Carry and Renwick are in the 200m freestyle and will be hoping to make the 4x200m relay squad.

Meanwhile, Liam Tancock has no qualms about facing world-class opposition while not in peak condition at the European Championships.

With the Commonwealth Games the priority for the British swimmers this year, the team will head to Hungary still in training rather than fully rested while for their opponents it will be their main competition in 2010.

However, for Tancock, the world 50m backstroke champion, that is of little concern as his competition gets under way tomorrow in the 100m backstroke.

Tancock said: "I won't be fully rested but I love to go out and race and I won't be at my full potential but I'll always give it my best shot.

"I've just done the European tour - the Mare Nostrum, Pescara and Paris - and there were people in Paris who were shaved and tapered and ready to go.

"That's one of the reasons I did some of these meets - to go up against people when I'm not ready to race up to my full potential. It puts me under a bit more pressure but I love it.

The Speedo swimmer broke the world record en route to last year's 50m backstroke victory at the World Championships in Rome and heads the global rankings over both 50m and 100m, both of which he will contest in Budapest along with the medley relay and possibly the 4x100m freestyle.

Fellow backstroker Gemma Spofforth also starts her campaign today a year after being crowned world champion over 100m. The 22 year-old goes in the 200m backstroke, in which she came fourth in Rome last year.

Spofforth finished second behind Lizzie Simmonds over both 100m and 200m at the trials in Sheffield earlier this year although the event came shortly after she finished competing for the University of Florida, winning a third consecutive 100 yards title but missing out on a fourth successive crown in the 200. It was a hectic spell for Spofforth and she said: "Mentally I wasn't quite there so I guess I was very happy with what happened considering where my brain was."

Team-mate Lizzie Simmonds heads the 200m world rankings but Spofforth says she is unconcerned by anything other than her own performance.

"For me, competition is just competition. I go in and swim my best race whatever the event," she said.