Olympics: Dan Wallace reaches 200m individual medley final

Edinburgh swimmer Dan Wallace rediscovered some of his best form to reach the final of the men's Olympic 200m individual medley and after revealed his relief at being able to deliver after a rough few months.

Warrender swimmer Dan Wallace has another shot at a medal. Pic: Getty

Starting with a disappointing performance at the team trials, when the 23-year-old failed to meet the qualifying standards in three events, he claims it has felt like swimming against a current at times.

Even after having his place in the squad confirmed at the end of April, Wallace admitted he only really started to click a few weeks prior to Rio 2016.

But in delivering a time of 1:57:97minutes to qualify fifth fastest for the final in the early hours of Friday morning, he believes things are starting to come together.

“I’m over the moon with that swim,” he said after his semi-final.

“After Tuesday night’s performances [winning silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay] and the emotional high of that, it was always going to be hard to post a fast time in the morning.

“But I knew that if I got the job done in the morning, I’d be able to come in and really step up.

“My freestyle has been feeling good for longer than my individual medley this summer, so to go that close to my best in the semi-final and to make the final is really promising.

“I don’t want to be remembered as someone who had a not-great trials, went to the Olympics and didn’t do anything special.

“It’s my first Olympics and I want to make a point and show that I really deserve to be here.

“It’s been a rough summer. Each day and each week I was getting better but it took a while for it to really click and for me to feel I’m back to where I should be and back to where I can be.

“It was about two weeks ago when I started feeling like things had turned around. It’s been a long haul to stay focused and really believe in myself but that’s all it took.”

Friday morning’s final is due to start at approximately 0300 (BST).

Duncan Scott continued to shine at his debut Games after sealing a fifth-place finish in the final of the men’s 100m freestyle – 24 hours after winning 4x200m relay silver.

The 19-year-old matched his British record and personal best time of 48.01seconds and insisted afterwards a sub-48 race would have made this Games almost perfect.

“It was 0.02 not quick enough because I want to break under 48 seconds,” he added. “But if I’d come third and gone 48.01 I’d have been delighted.

“I’ve got to be happy with fifth in the world in my first individual at a major meet. I took loads of confidence from the silver on Tuesday but I couldn’t really sleep afterwards.

“I was delighted to be on the team for Rio and to get the confidence to know I can swim well at an Olympic Games when it matters.”

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