BALLOCH swimmer Ross Murdoch has revealed he got over the disappointment of missing out on swimming the 200-metre breaststroke at Rio 2016 by going on a camping getaway in the hills near where he grew up.

The 22-year-old secured Olympic qualification for Rio in the 100m at the British Championships at Tollcross in April, but fell short in the 200m — his favoured distance.

Murdoch admitted he took some time to get over Tollcross but a few days of reflection and a camping trip on the Stoney Mullen Hill was enough for him to refocus.

It clearly had the desired effect as Murdoch won the full set of medals two weeks ago at the European Championships in London, including a quick return to form in the 200m where he picked up gold.

He said: “After the trials I had about four days out of the water just to go away and do my own thing.

“I was actually down Dumbarton way, one of my friends bought a flat in Dumbarton so I was helping him strip out his flat.

“We went camping up on the Stoney Mullen Hill in between Balloch and Cardross, like we used to when we were boys.

“It was good to get away and try and switch off, but while I was away I couldn’t help but go over it in my head and a few things came to mind which could have gone better.

“I came up with a couple of ideas that I spoke to my coach Ben (Higson) about and we’ve got the plan going again.”

Murdoch has history of bouncing back from adversity, despite a career littered with medals and achievements.

In December 2014, just five months after his gold and bronze medal swims at Glasgow 2014, Murdoch was struck down with a chest infection forcing him to pull out of the World Short Course Championships.

That quickly turned into glandular fever — a nightmare condition for top athletes with chronic fatigue, fevers and aching muscles among the symptoms.

Murdoch returned to the pool in fine style after little meaningful preparation to qualify for World Championships in April 2015.

He swam a personal best and a new Scottish record in the 100m breaststroke, losing out only to a world record-breaking 57.92 performance by friend and rival Adam Peaty.

He followed that up by taking bronze in the event itself in Kazan, Russia, despite qualifying for the final slowest and starting in the outside lane.

The upshot is Murdoch feels in a stronger place mentally and physically this summer and he is convinced his improvement can continue as he prepares for his Olympic bow in August.

He said: “I take a lot of confidence from what I was able to do in Russia, not just with the change of plans in terms of just swimming the 100m.

“But I was able to get myself on the British team for Russia off the back of not a lot of work. I still to this day don’t know how I swam so fast.

“I had bronchitis and I got glandular fever from that. It was really hard to come back from because the level of fatigue was so high.

“There was a constant chip in my immune system, every other day I had a cold or a sinus infection.

“There was a lot I had to put up with last year that I learned a lot from.”