Inverness swimmer Stephen Milne might have missed out on booking himself a date against the best the world has to offer, but there was no wiping the smile off his face after he claimed gold at the British championships.
Such was Milne’s dominance in the 1,500m freestyle his time of 15:09.51 was six seconds faster than his nearest challenger, Caleb Hughes.
There was a tinge of disappointment as Milne’s time was some way off the 14:51.06 qualifying standard for this summer’s world championships.
But Milne refused to be downbeat and said: “My time was 20secs faster than last year so I’m happy.
“I was just swimming my own race and thinking about my own tactics.”
There was more joy for Hannah Miley as the Inverurie swimmer added to her 200m butterfly gold by taking home silver from the 200m individual medley.
Miley touched home in 2:11.65 behind winner Siobhan-Marie O’Connor and believes it is all systems go ahead of her preferred event, the 400m IM, on Saturday.
“The 200m IM is always a big sprint, it is very different to the 400m so for me to get up there and keep up with Siobhan is always going to be challenge,” said Miley.
“It’s one of those events which I do to try to help my 400. It was a lot quicker than what I was doing last year so that is fantastic progress.
“It was just outside the consideration time for the world championships, but the 400m is my main focus.
“I never expected to win the butterfly title. It’s great to see that progression. I need to look at the splits to see which strokes to improve for the 400 IM. It’s going better than last year so far so fingers crossed it goes well for me again on Saturday.”
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