Duncan Scott sets new national record to take title at British Championships

Duncan Scott set a new national record in the men’s 400 metres individual medley final at the British Swimming Championships, breaking the previous benchmark by nearly half a second.

Scott made history as the first British athlete to win four medals at a single Olympics after capturing a gold and three silvers at Tokyo 2020 and he blazed a trail once again at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.

He recorded a time of four minutes and 9.18 seconds, which is 0.44secs faster than the national record Max Litchfield set at the 2017 World Championships, with Brodie Williams coming second in 4mins 14.69s.

“I’m still learning in the event a lot but I’m absolutely delighted with that time,” said the Scot, who also holds the British records for the men’s 200m individual medley and men’s 100m freestyle.

“I love watching Max do that every year, he’s an incredible athlete and the times he’s able to do consistently each year around that 4:10-barrier is incredible.

“I’m absolutely delighted to get that off him. I’m really happy with that.”

Scott was absent in the men’s 100m freestyle event but held on to his record by 0.01s with Lewis Burras coming home in 47.88s as he defeated double Olympic champion Tom Dean by nearly two tenths of a second.

“That was an added incentive of me getting the 400 IM was I might get one taken off me,” added Scott before the men’s 100m freestyle final.

“That’s why they’re there and it’s good to see them keep going in different events all the time. I guess it shows the depth we’ve now got in Britain.”

Dean was one of Britain’s breakout success stories in Japan, where he pipped Scott to the men’s 200m freestyle title before the pair helped their country to the top of the podium in the relay event.

“It was the best way I