Duncan Scott (swimmer)

Duncan William MacNaughton Scott (born 6 May 1997) is a Scottish swimmer representing Great Britain at the FINA World Aquatics Championships, LEN European Aquatics Championships, European Games and the Olympic Games, and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Scott made history after winning four medals - more than any other British athlete at a single Olympic Games - in Tokyo 2020, simultaneously becoming Great Britain's most decorated swimmer in Olympic history. With an additional gold and silver medal in Paris 2024 bringing his total to eight, Scott became Scotland's most-decorated Olympian (surpassing Chris Hoy), and is currently tied with Bradley Wiggins as the second most-decorated Olympian in British history. Scott is the only athlete in the top three to still be actively competing, and the only member of the top four (Hoy, Scott, Wiggins and Jason Kenny) who is not a track cyclist.

An all-rounder in the pool, Scott has swum internationally in 100 and 200 metres freestyle and butterfly, and 200 metres individual medley. He has won gold at the Olympics, three golds at the World Championships in 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay, a World Championship gold in the men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay, as well as silvers at the World Championships and Olympics in freestyle and medley relay. Individually, Scott was the 100 metre freestyle champion at the 2015 European Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the 200 metre freestyle champion at the same European Games and the 2018 European Aquatics Championships. He is an Olympic silver medalist in the individual 200 metres freestyle and 200 metres individual medley, and a World silver medalist in the 200 metres individual medley.

Winning three gold medals in the (100 m and 200 m freestyle, and 4 × 100 m freestyle relay) at the 2015 European Games, he was the most successful British athlete at the Games. A month later, he formed part of the Great Britain squad that won the gold medal at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in the men's 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay as the 4th leg swimmer in the heat. In 2016, he was a member of the Great Britain team that won silver in the final of the same event at the Olympic Games as well as the men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay. The same team also won the 4 x 100 metre medley relay silver in the 2017 World Championships. A noted relay swimmer, Scott broke the individual British 200 metre freestyle record leading off in the men's 4 x 200 metre relay, before anchoring the team that won gold in 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the 2019 World Championships. His anchor splits in a number of global relays are among the fastest in history - as of 2024, Scott has both the second fastest 100 metre freestyle anchor leg in history, and the third fastest 200 metre freestyle anchor leg.

Early life

Scott grew up in Alloa, moving to Strathallan School on a sport scholarship at the beginning of secondary. He trained daily throughout his high school years."Duncan Scott"
''FINA''. Retrieved 4 November 2022.

Career

Scott came to public attention when he won eight gold medals at the 2013 Scottish Age Group Championships in Edinburgh. Later that year he competed at the 2013 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival taking gold in the 200 m medley, silvers in the (400 m medley, 4 × 100 m mixed freestyle) and bronze in the 4 × 100 m freestyle.

In July 2014, at the 2014 European Junior Championships, Scott won a gold medal in the (200 m individual medley, 4 × 100 m freestyle) and bronze in the 4 × 200 m freestyle. A few weeks later he won a silver medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay with Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. He then competed at the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing taking gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle (with Luke Greenbank, Miles Munro, and Martyn Walton).

At the inaugural 2015 European Games in Baku (a junior event for swimmers), he won three gold medals in the (100 m freestyle, 200 m freestyle and 4 × 100 m freestyle relay) and three silver medals in the 4 × 200 m freestyle, 4 × 100 m mixed freestyle, and 4 × 100 m medley (with Greenbank, Charlie Attwood, and Walton).

2016

In the 2016 Rio Olympics, he won a silver in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay with Stephen Milne, James Guy, and Dan Wallace. He also won another silver in the 4 × 100 m medley relay with Chris Walker-Hebborn, James Guy and Adam Peaty. He was placed 5th in the final of the individual men's 100 metres freestyle.

2017

In the 2017 World Aquatics Championships. He won gold in the 4 × 200 m freestyle with James Guy, Stephen Milne and Nick Grainger in a time of seven minutes 1.70 seconds. He won a further silver in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the World Championship with same Olympic line-up of Walker-Hebborn, Guy and Peaty.

2018

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Scott won the gold medal in the 100 metre freestyle in a time of 48.02 seconds. He also won four bronze medals at the Games: in the 200 metre butterfly, 200 metre freestyle, 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay, and 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, and became the first Scottish athlete to win five medals a single Commonwealth Games. He added a sixth medal when he won the silver medal in the 200 metre individual medley.

At the 2018 European Championships, Scott won a silver in the 100 metre freestyle. Later the same day he won gold as part of the relay team in the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay with Calum Jarvis, Thomas Dean and James Guy. He also won gold in the 200 metre freestyle, despite only having just made the final in 8th place. He added a third gold in the final day of the championships, winning the men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay as part of the British team with Adam Peaty, James Guy and Nicholas Pyle.

On 13 September he was named Scottish Sportsperson of the Year at the Team Scotland Scottish Sports Awards.

2019

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships held in Gwangju, South Korea, Scott came joint fourth in the 200 m freestyle, but the first-placed finisher Danas Rapšys was disqualified for a false start, and Scott was awarded a bronze medal together with Martin Malyutin. After the medal ceremony, Scott refused to shake hands and take pictures with the gold medallist Sun Yang, who had previously been banned for a '' trimetazidine'' drug offence in 2014 for three months and was involved in an ongoing doping case controversy. This transpired following Australian Mack Horton's refusal to share a podium with Sun at the medal ceremony when the Chinese national anthem was played. Both Sun and Scott were given official warnings from FINA; Scott was subjected to death threats from Sun's fans on social media.

In the lead-off leg in the men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay final, Scott broke the British national record with a time of 1:44:91; the team finished fifth in the race. In the men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay together with Adam Peaty, James Guy and Luke Greenbank, he swam the anchor leg in 46.14 seconds, the second fastest freestyle relay split of all time, and the fastest in textile. He managed to overcome a 1.11 second deficit to finish in front of the United States team, thereby winning Britain's first gold medal in the event in the World Championships in a European record time of three minutes, 28.10 seconds.

2020

Scott competed for London Roar during the 2020 International Swim League once again and during the tournament in Budapest he set a new British Record in the 200 Individual Medley and broke the British Record for the 200m freestyle twice, a week apart from each other.

Based on his 2019 individual world championship result, Scott was pre-selected for the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

2021

At the 2021 British Swimming Olympic trials, Scott broke the British record in the 200m individual medley with a time of 1:55.90. In May 2021, Scott won a silver medal in 200m freestyle at the European Championships. He also won two gold medals in the men's 4 x 100 m medley and mixed 4 × 100 metre freestyle relays, as well as two silvers in the men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle and 4 × 200 metre freestyle relays.

At the 2021 British Championships, Scott set a new British Record of 1:55:90 in the 200IM, then went onto equal his existing British Record in the 100m Freestyle and finished off with a new British Record in the 200m Freestyle with a time of 1:44:47.

A month later in May 2021, the LEN European Aquatics Championships saw Scott win Gold in the mixed 4×100 free relay and men’s 4×100 medley relay; He also achieved Silver medals in the 200m freestyle, men’s 4x 100 freestyle relay and men’s 4×200 freestyle relay.

At the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics Scott made history with his medals.

He won gold in the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay and silver in the men’s medley relay which set a new European record of 3:27.51. He also took silver in the individual 200m freestyle and 200 IM where he set a new British Record of 1:55.28. These achievements made him Great Britain’s most decorated athlete in any sport at one Olympic Games and Great Britain’s most decorated Olympic swimmer ever.

Scott won silver in 200m freestyle, finishing 0.04 seconds behind the winner and teammate, Tom Dean. He followed it up with a gold as part of the 4×200m freestyle relay team with Tom Dean, James Guy, and Matt Richards, winning it in a European record of 6 minutes 58.58 seconds. He also claimed a silver in men's 200 metre individual medley, and another in the 4 × 100 metre medley relay with Luke Greenbank, Adam Peaty, and James Guy, making him the first British athlete to win four medals in a single Games leading to calls for him to be nominated for a knighthood.

In the 2021 International Swimming League, Scott won match most valuable player honours for the fifteenth match of the overall season, which was the fourth match of the playoffs season, narrowly winning top honours over Ryan Murphy of LA Current by 4.0 points. ISL (21 November 2021)
"ISL Match 15 Eindhoven (NED): Match MVP Standings"
'' Omega Timing''. Retrieved 21 November 2021.

Scott was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to swimming.

2022

At the 2022 British Swimming Championships in April, Scott won the 400 metre individual medley with a Commonwealth record, British record, 2022 World Aquatics Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 4:09.18."British Swimming Championships 2022: Men Open 400m IM - Final Full Results"
'' British Swimming''. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.Byrnes, Liz (7 April 2022)
"Duncan Scott Sets British And Commonwealth 400IM Record Of 4:09.18 At National Championships"
''Swimming World''. Retrieved 7 April 2022.Penland, Spencer (7 April 2022)
"Duncan Scott Shatters British Record With 4:09.18 400 IM, #1 In The World"
'' SwimSwam''. Retrieved 7 April 2022.Woods, Mark (7 April 2022)
"Duncan Scott wrestles men's 400m individual medley UK record away from Max Litchfield"
'' The Herald''. Retrieved 8 April 2022. On 2 May, he was officially nominated by Scottish Swimming to be a member of Team Scotland for the 2022 Commonwealth Games."Athlete nominations for Birmingham 2022"
'' Scottish Swimming''. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022. He withdrew from the 2022 World Championships in advance of the start of competition due to training difficulties leading up to the start of the Championships in June.Baldwin, Alan (14 June 2022)
"Olympic champion Scott pulls out of worlds in blow for Britain"
''Reuters''. Retrieved 17 June 2022."World Aquatics Championships: Duncan Scott pulls out"
''BBC Sport''. 14 June 2022. Retrieved 17 June 2022. British Swimming (14 June 2022)
"Duncan Scott Pulls out of World Championships"
'' Scottish Swimming''. Retrieved 17 June 2022.OlympicTalk (14 June 2022)
"Duncan Scott, British swim star, out of world championships"
''NBC Sports''. Retrieved 17 June 2022. In mid-July, approximately a week before the start of swimming competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, he withdrew from the 2022 European Aquatics Championships."Rome 2022: Olympic champion and world record holder Adam Peaty leads the British swimming team"
''roma2022.eu''. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.

2022 Commonwealth Games

Once again Scott made history at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. He amassed 2 gold medals in his signature 200m freestyle and 200m IM in addition to 4 bronze medals, making him Scotland’s most decorated athlete ever in the Commonwealth Games.

On the second day of swimming competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, held in Birmingham, England in July and August, Scott swam a 1:47.16 in the preliminaries of the Swimming at the 2022 Commonwealth Games – Men's 200 metre freestyle, 200 metre freestyle, qualifying for the final ranking second."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 200m Freestyle Heats Results Summary"
''Longines''. 30 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022. Later in the morning, he ranked seventh in the preliminaries of the Swimming at the 2022 Commonwealth Games – Men's 400 metre individual medley, 400 metre individual medley, swimming a time of 4:20.92 to qualify for the final."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 400m Individual Medley Heats Results Summary"
''Longines''. 30 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022. In the final of the 200 metre freestyle, he won the gold medal with a time of 1:45.02."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 200m Freestyle Final Results"
''Longines''. 30 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022."Double medal celebration for Scott while Clegg also adds to medal count"
'' Scottish Swimming''. 30 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022."Scotland's Duncan Scott wins gold and bronze in pool"
''birmingham2022.com''. 30 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022. He followed his gold medal up with a bronze medal in the 400 metre individual medley with a time of 4:11.27."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 400m Individual Medley Final Results"
''Longines''. 30 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022. The following day, Scott ranked third in the preliminaries of the Swimming at the 2022 Commonwealth Games – Men's 200 metre butterfly, 200 metre butterfly and advanced to the final with his time of 1:57.48."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 200m Butterfly Heats Results Summary"
''Longines''. 31 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022. In his second event of the morning, the Swimming at the 2022 Commonwealth Games – Men's 100 metre freestyle, 100 metre freestyle, he qualified for the semifinals."2022 Commonwealth Games Day 3 heats round-up and finals preview"
'' Scottish Swimming''. 31 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022. For the evening finals session, he started off with a fifth-place finish in the 200 metre butterfly in a time of 1:56.89."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 200m Butterfly Final Results"
''Longines''. 31 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.Walton, Neil (31 July 2022)
"Commonwealth Games 2022: Jay Lelliott seventh in 200m butterfly"
''Dorset Echo''. Retrieved 31 July 2022. Less than an hour later, he ranked sixth in the semifinals of the 100 metre freestyle with a 48.78 and qualified for the final."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 100m Freestyle Semi-Finals Results Summary"
''Longines''. 31 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.

In the final of the 100 metre freestyle on day four, Scott finished in a time of 48.27 seconds and won the bronze medal."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 100m Freestyle Final Results"
''Longines''. 1 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022."Scottish swimmers win three more medals in the pool"
'' Scottish Swimming''. 1 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022. Later in the session, he won a bronze medal in the Swimming at the 2022 Commonwealth Games – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, 4×200 metre freestyle relay, splitting a 1:44.48 for the fourth leg of the relay to help finish in 7:09.33."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Final Results"
''Longines''. 1 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022. His relay bronze medal marked his eleventh total medal at the Commonwealth Games and he became the most decorated Scottish competitor across all Commonwealth Games, breaking the former record of ten total medals set by shooter Alister Allan in 1994.Winton, Richard (1 August 2022)
"Commonwealth Games: Duncan Scott takes aim at shooter's record and hits target"
''BBC Sport''. Retrieved 1 August 2022. Two days later, on the sixth and final day, he qualified for the final of the Swimming at the 2022 Commonwealth Games – Men's 200 metre individual medley, 200 metre individual medley along with fellow Scotsman Mark Szaranek, ranking third with a time of 2:00.41."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 200m Individual Medley Heats Results Summary"
''Longines''. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022."2022 Commonwealth Games Day 6 heats round-up and finals preview"
'' Scottish Swimming''. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022. In the final, he won the gold medal with a List of Commonwealth Games records in swimming, Games record time of 1:56.88."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 200m Individual Medley Final Results"
''Longines''. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022."Two more medals on final night of swimming"
'' Scottish Swimming''. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022. For his final event of the Games, he split a 51.74 for the butterfly leg of the Swimming at the 2022 Commonwealth Games – Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay, 4×100 metre medley relay in the final to help win the bronze medal with a List of Scottish records in swimming, Scottish record time of 3:35.11."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 4x100m Medley Relay Final Results"
''Longines''. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.

2022 Swimming World Cup
At his first FINA Swimming World Cup, the 2022 FINA Swimming World Cup stop held in November in Indianapolis, United States, Scott placed eighth in the 400 metre freestyle with a 3:45.35 on day one, twelfth in the 200 metre individual medley with a time of 1:58.50 on day two, tenth in the 400 metre individual medley on day three with a 4:12.98, and fifteenth in the 200 metre freestyle with a 1:44.80, also on day three.FINA (5 November 2022)
"FINA Swimming World Cup 2022: Indianapolis (USA): Results Book"
'' Omega Timing''. Retrieved 5 November 2022.

2024

Scott won the British swimming champions - 200 metres medley winners, 200 metres medley at the 2024 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships sealing his place at the 2024 Summer Olympics. At the Olympics he came in 4th in the Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle, 200 metre freestyle event with a time of 1:44.87. He won silver medal in the Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre individual medley, 200 metres individual medley event with a time of 1:55.31. Scott was in the final of the Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay together with James Guy, Tom Dean, and Matt Richards, the same four quartet who won in the same event at the Tokyo Olympics. They won the relay with a time of six minutes and 59.43 seconds, and became the first team to have successfully defended an Olympic swimming relay title with the same four swimmers. They are also the first British team to have defended an Olympic relay title in swimming or athletics. This was also Scott's seventh Olympic medal, which made him Britain's 3rd most decorated Olympian.

2025

In 2025, Scott successfully defended his British swimming champions – 200 metres medley winners, 200 metres medley title and won the British swimming champions – 200 metres butterfly winners, 200 metres butterfly title at the 2025 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, which sealed a qualification place for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. On the final day of competition, Scott won the British swimming champions – 200 metres freestyle winners, 200 metres freestyle title, in an unprecedented dead heat with James Guy.

Awards

Scott was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours for services to swimming.

International championships

Long course metres (50 m pool)

: Scott swam only in the prelims heats.

Short course metres (25 m pool)

Personal best times

Long course metres (50 m pool)

Short course metres (25 m pool)

Awards and honours

* International Swimming League, Match Most Valuable Player: 2021 Match 15

See also

*List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (men)
*List of 2015 European Games medal winners
*List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (men)
*List of Youth Olympic Games gold medalists who won Olympic gold medals

Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Duncan
1997 births
Living people
Swimmers from Glasgow
People educated at Strathallan School
Scottish male freestyle swimmers
British male freestyle swimmers
World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
European Games gold medalists for Great Britain
European Games medalists in swimming
Swimmers at the 2015 European Games
Commonwealth Games gold medallists in swimming
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in swimming
Commonwealth Games silver medallists in swimming
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Scotland
Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Scotland
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Scotland
Swimmers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Swimmers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
Olympic swimmers for Great Britain
Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain
Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain
Olympic gold medalists in swimming
Olympic silver medalists in swimming
Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Swimmers at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Youth Olympic gold medalists for Great Britain
Swimmers at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics
Scottish Olympic competitors
Sportspeople from Alloa
Alumni of the University of Stirling
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Scottish male medley swimmers
British male medley swimmers
21st-century Scottish sportsmen