Swimming: Gilchrist eyes British title No. 4 as London bid hots up

Edinburgh’s Kris Gilchrist is bidding to reach a second Olympic Games, while Warrender pair Lewis Smith and Craig Benson – hoping to make their Olympic debuts at London this summer – will get their chance to join Team GB at the Olympic trials starting at the London Aquatics Centre tomorrow.

Gilchrist is the British record holder in the 200m breaststroke and he joins fellow Scot Michael Jamieson in the heats on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old is going for his fourth British title and he is determined to avoid the disappointment of this time last year, when he missed out on qualification for the world championships.

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Jamieson, who trained with City of Edinburgh before it disbanded in 2008, finished fifth in last year’s world championships in Shanghai. Andrew Willis was the second member of the British team, finishing eighth in the final.

The trio train together in Bath, and Gilchrist, who eneded last year as highest-ranked Briton at No 9 in the world rankings, said: “It certainly adds to training when you have top-class breaststrokers in the pool. I always set London as a target. I’ve always thought of myself as a late developer and this is when I want to peak.”

Smith was not far away from making Team GB in Beijing four years ago and his main event is the 400m individual medley tomorrow. Scotland’s world championship silver medallist, Hannah Miley, is also in action in the women’s event.

Livingston’s Benson is one of the new kids on the block, and London may be a tad early for the James Young High School sixth year pupil whose main event is the 100m breaststroke.