Swimming: MacMillan claims Mayor scalp on way to clinching National title

Edinburgh UNIVERSITY'S Iain MacMillan beat a big rival to claim the gold medal in the 200m butterfly at the Scottish Gas National Championships in Glasgow.

The Capital swimmer clocked 1:58.89 and finished comfortably ahead of Andrew Mayor, the Newcastle-based Scot who competed at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last October.

In the 400m freestyle, Warrender's Lewis Smith finished a close second to City of Glasgow's Robbie Renwick, who won the same title at the ASA National Championships in Sheffield two weeks ago. Renwick continued his countdown to this month's World Championships in Shanghai with victory in 3:52.03 - Smith, who is more of a medley specialist, took the silver in 3:52.57

Renwick, the Commonwealth Games 200m freestyle Champion, qualified for the World Championships at the ASA National Championships in Sheffield two weeks ago and he again confirmed that he is hitting form at the right time.

Edinburgh University's Kerry Buchan won the Scottish National title in the 100 breaststroke but lost the Open gold to Brazil's Marina Garcia. The visitor was a comfortable winner in 1:09.79 with Buchan second best in 1:11.15.

In the 100m backstroke, Warrender youngster Craig McNally, who was the youngest Scottish swimmer at the Commonwealth Games, took a bronze in 57.13. Brazil's Guido Guilherne won in 55.55.