Balloch swimmer Ross Murdoch was in dominant form in the 200m breaststroke final at the Scottish National and Open Swimming Championships - his last warm up race before travelling to the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea this week.
Murdoch, who has three World Championship medals in his collection including a mixed relay gold from 2015, shot off from the blocks and looked strong throughout, coming home to take the touch in 2:12.22, well ahead of nearest rivals Dan Lim and Nick Quinn from Edinburgh University who won silver and bronze.
The 25-year-old University of Stirling star revealed he used the event in Aberdeen purely as a chance to tune up before competing at world level later this month.
He said: “This is my last chance to race before the World Championships and the focus was just about training and trying to get a training response from the day’s racing. It wasn’t about trying to pace the heats, it was about hitting it really hard and then seeing if I could get faster in the final. It was two max 200s right from the gun and I’m feeling burst to be honest with you.”
Looking ahead to competing in Gwangju, Murdoch is more concerned about finally bettering his 2014 Commonwealth time that has since defined his career than medals.
Gold medalist at Glasgow 2014, Murdoch stormed home in a Commonwealth and British record time of 2:07.30 that he has been unable to match in the five years since.
“Success to me at the worlds would be a personal best time that I’ve been looking for since 2014,” Murdoch said. “That swim in Glasgow still defines my career and I think the result will always define me, not only from a media or spectator point of view, but just from my own personal point of view.
“For me there can’t be much to top that swim, but in terms of my time I’m not very happy to have peaked at 20 and I still feel I’ve got a lot more to give.”
The 2019 World Championships begin tomorrow in Gwangju, South Korea with Murdoch expected to be in action from Sunday, July 21.
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