Tom Holligan and Craig Benson share sports accolade

SWIMMER Craig Benson and sprinter Tom Holligan have been named Commonwealth Games Scotland Athletes of the Month for July, winning £250 each towards training and competition costs. Both teenagers have been included in the Scotland squad for next month's Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man, and were medallists at their respective European championships last month.

Benson, 17, won a silver medal in the 100 metres breaststroke at the European Junior Championships in Belgrade, setting a British age-group record of one minute 2.17 seconds. His next target is to win a medal at the forthcoming World Junior Championships in Lima, after which it is on to the Isle of Man, where he expects stiff competition from British team-mates, among others.

"I know all of the other GB guys, and I'm the fastest at the moment," he said. "However I don't know a lot about the Australians, Canadians or the South Africans so it's hard to say how it will go. I'd certainly love to win a medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games."

Benson, who is based in Livingston but now swims for the Edinburgh Warrender club, has gone from strength to strength this year, having first broken what was the longstanding 100m breaststroke record in March, at the British Championships. He then went on to beat it again at the Scottish Age-Group Championships in April.

Yet, although he has been performing well in junior competition, his principal aim is to succeed on the big stage at next year's London Olympics and then at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow."One of my main goals is to make the Olympic Games, which I have an outside chance of doing," he said. "After that I'm obviously going to be focused on Glasgow 2014 and winning medals there."

Benson is one of ten swimmers selected to represent Youth Team Scotland at Commonwealth Youth Games, while Holligan is one of eight athletes. Also 17, Holligan is in his final year at school in Edinburgh. He started out as a cross-country runner, twice winning the Scottish primary-school title, but then began to concentrate on the sprints. He has won a host of age-group titles in England and Scotland, and last week won the 200m at the European Youth Olympic Championships.