Duncan Scott stays focused on gold medal bid after Sun Yang row

Duncan Scott insisted that the storm blown up by his angry row with Chinese rival Sun Yang won’t affect his performances in the pool after he booked his place in today’s 200 metres individual medley final at the world swimming championships in Gwangju.
Duncan Scott on his way to finishing second in the 200m individual medley semi-final in Gwangju. Picture: Getty ImagesDuncan Scott on his way to finishing second in the 200m individual medley semi-final in Gwangju. Picture: Getty Images
Duncan Scott on his way to finishing second in the 200m individual medley semi-final in Gwangju. Picture: Getty Images

The 22-year-old received both shows of support from colleagues and death threats on social media for snubbing Sun, pictured, following Tuesday’s 200m freestyle final in which the Scot claimed bronze.

It was a very public stance against the Olympic champion, who has served a ban for drugs use and who will face a case against him later this year, brought by the World Anti-Doping Agency, for alleged test violations.

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But Scott, who qualified sixth-fastest by coming second in yesterday’s semi-final in 1:57.73, underlined his mind is focused on becoming a 
champion rather than on the controversy stirred by his war of words.

He said: “I can’t say during the race I was thinking about it. There are plenty of things on my mind during the race. It was more about how I was going to catch those guys.” Although he landed the Commonwealth Games title in the 100m freestyle last year, Scott opted to ease his schedule by pulling out of yesterday’s semis and throwing all his energies into the medley.

He powered down the final length to progress but it will require an extra leap for a second medal in South Korea, Scott claimed.

“I’ve made it through to the final so that’s job done. Time-wise, that won’t be good enough in the final. It won’t cut it at all. There are a few things I need to improve on before then so I’ll need to rest up and see what I did there and better it.”

Reigning champion Chase Kalisz of the USA will be among those standing in his way with Scott now seeking a payback for his work at Stirling University in honing all four swim strokes to become more than just a freestyle specialist.

He said: “I’ve done a lot more stroke-specific work and honed more of the finer skills in a race situation. Kicks off a wall. A certain number of strokes. I’ve really looked at the fine detail of each part and that’s something I want to progress at the worlds, chiselling it down so that each part is even better than at trials.

“There is still a lot to improve on. I still want to be more consistent. But it’s about small things.”

Adam Peaty earned his 
seventh world championship title by claiming his third 
successive gold in the 50m breaststroke.

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The Englishman, 24, was just outside his world record in clocking 26.06 seconds in the final but eased six tenths of a second clear of Felipe Lima with his fellow Brazilian Joao Gomes third.

It gave him a hat-trick of 50-100m golds and he also added a bronze by linking up with Georgia Davies, James Guy and Freya Anderson as the Brits came third in the mixed 4x100 medley relay with Australia pipping the USA to gold by just two-hundreds of a 
second.

“I’ve done the triple-double, which is what I came to do,” Peaty said. “I’ve completed everything I wanted to do. I put together a pretty perfect race and I was only just off my world record.

“It’s great to come back with all the medals I can and it’s great to get another medal in the relay, which was unexpected. Each world champs I go to, I get more experience and learn even more about how to deal with the pressure.”

In the men’s 200m butterfly, 19-year-old Kristof Milak of Hungary took gold in a time of 1:50.73 that smashed the previous world record set by Michael Phelps in 2009.

Davies qualified for today’s women’s 50m backstroke final while fellow Britons Laura Stephens and Alys Thomas both reached the final of the women’s 200m butterfly.

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