Borderer Lucy ​Hope selected to swim for Team GB at Paris Olympics

​​Duncan Scott, Kathleen Dawson, Katie Shanahan and Keanna MacInnes are the other four Scots set to dive into action at la Defense Arena in Paris this summer.

They all train under coaches Brad Hay and Steven Tigg at Stirling University, with Angharad Evans and Jack McMillan’s inclusion yielding a record crop of seven athletes selected from the Scottish swimming base.

Glasgow’s Scott became Team GB’s most successful Olympian at a single games in Tokyo in 2021, winning four medals, including gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay and he will return to the pool in Paris for his third Olympics.

The 26-year-old returned to form at this year’s Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, finishing second in the 200m freestyle to bank an individual berth after missing out in 2023.

“I usually don’t celebrate at all but it was a bit of a let-out of emotion after how poorly I swam last year and missing out on the worlds,” he said.

“It’s about getting that opportunity to represent our country and get close to what I did last time, so I think it all came out at the end of my race.

“Last year I was in and out of the pool a lot with illness and it was a real culmination of inconsistencies that caught up with me.

“It was a difficult drive back up from Sheffield after trials last year so I am really grateful about how I’ve got back to this level and been given this opportunity again.”

Olympic mixed relay gold medallist Dawson also struggled between Tokyo and Paris, battling a career-threatening back injury following Tokyo. Unable to even put her socks on without pain, she is now back on the biggest stage of them all.

“I’m unbelievably proud of myself to be back here,” said the Fifer, 26.

“It would have been easy after Tokyo to say ‘I’ve been to an Olympics, got a gold medal and a world record’. I could have called it a day there.

“That thought was there but I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do and I hadn’t finished in the sport.

“After getting back into training and through rehab, there was no doubt I would be here again.

“I would love to be back in that 4x100m mixed medley relay because I know it’s another medal opportunity and chance to get to that record again.”

Relay specialist Hope, 27, was part of the women’s 4x100m freestyle team that finished fifth with a new British record in Tokyo three years ago.

Now back for her second games, there’s one date stuck in the Borderer’s head in the lead-up to Paris – Thursday, August 1, the final of the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.

Hope said: “It’s such a competitive environment in Britain at the moment because you’re wanting to be the best and on August 1, we know that we want to be the best.

“When you look at the women’s 4x100m freestyle team, since about 2021 it has just been the same four and we haven’t had anyone we could have even added in. It’s really exciting to see more options for us.

“The boys have always had that but the girls have been struggling with it in the past and it’s really promising for the future.”

All athletes in Paris will benefit from Aldi’s Nearest and Dearest programme. It will help maximise support and minimise potential distractions for athletes so that they can focus on their performances and make the most of the opportunity to compete on one of the world’s largest stages.

The rapid revival in female swimming in Britain is stemming from Stirling, with five of the named seven being women.

Two of those new-found stars are Shanahan and MacInnes, the sole Scottish debutants in the pool in Paris.

MacInnes comes into the fray as something of an unknown. The Livingston swimmer stormed into the spotlight at the Aquatics GB Championships, beating 200m butterfly world champion Laura Stephens to take her second national title.

”I was pleased with how trials went but there’s some things I think I can improve going into summer,” said the 22-year-old.

“To beat Laura was very exciting as she was world champion but I was quietly confident.

“In the past, the women have been weaker than the men on Team GB, but having seven Stirling swimmers, and five of them girls, in Paris is really exciting.

“That group in Stirling is a whole new set that came through in the past few years and we’re a lot younger and a lot more motivated so we’ve brought those standards up and made it more enjoyable.”

Glasgow-born Shanahan has been a rising star on the senior scene after a strong first couple of years on the circuit.

The 19-year-old won 200m backstroke silver at the 2022 European championships before making a maiden world championship appearance in 2023.

"I was getting up in the middle of the night and watching how the guys were swimming during Tokyo and knew I wanted to be there for Paris,” said the teenager.

“My mum was crying when I told her I’d got the email to go.

“With the experience that Duncan, Kathleen and Lucy already have and then first-timers like us, I’m really excited to go with the Stirling lot. I think we’ll all do really well in Paris.”

Aldi are proud official partners of Team GB and Paralympics GB, supporting all athletes through to Paris 2024