DUNCAN Scott knows what it takes to raise his game on the big occasions but even the Glasgow swimmer admits he was fortunate to progress to the European Swimming Championship final.

The 21-year-old could only finish fourth in a time of 48.52 in his 100m freestyle semi-final – leaving the two-time Olympic medallist sweating on a final berth.

But his time at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre was just enough to see the home favourite through to Sunday’s showpiece event.

Progress is all that matters but Scott is well aware that he’ll have to be at full throttle if he wants to stand on the podium.

“It’s a solid performance,” Scott said. “It’s just about trying to progress through each round and I did that again.

“It was marginal but I still did it. It was really tough and I found it pretty hard but that’s racing at the end of the day and it’s what a love doing.

“I think after that I’m just happy to be in the final. It’s going to be an incredibly tight race with some swimmers producing some great swims.

“So I just want to get in there and have a good race. If I can move my race on again that will be great.”

Scott will now sit down with his coach Steven Tigg to mull over the semi-final result before going up against the continent’s best.

The task of adding another medal to his cabinet is easier said than done but Scott is on home soil and with the crowd behind him, he believes anything is possible.

He said: “A few things didn’t go to plan but I’ll sit down with my coach and we’ve got a really good sports science team that will analyse everything and give me feedback.

“It’s really good to be out there on home soil, I really enjoy it. Glasgow put on a show no matter what sport it is so it’s great to be here.

“When it comes to competitions like this, times go out the window and you’re just focussed on getting onto the podium and a medal so it’s just about racing and that’s what it’s going to be like on Sunday night in the 100m freestyle.”

Scott was competing at an electric Tollcross after fellow Brit Adam Peaty smashed the 100m breaststroke world record and took gold in the process.

The Glasgow swimmer was delighted for his teammate and admits seeing Peaty’s heroics gave him a confidence boost heading into his race.

He said: “He’s one of the few racers that everyone gets up to watch the screen and want to be in a good position for his race.

“It’s great and it gives you a little boost when you see someone bash out a world record.

“I think maybe he was surprised as much as we were but having Peaty on the team is fantastic.”

There was plenty of Scottish success in the pool as Stephen Milne and Craig McLean scooped bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay mixed.

Going alongside Kathryn Greenslade and Freya Anderson, the quartet battled back to overtake Hungary at the last and pick up the final podium spot in a time of 7:29.72.

McLean, 19, said: “It was a thrilling race and the crowd loved it. It’s the first time I’ve experienced anything like that.

“It’s the first time I’ve really felt the crowd while swimming so it was so good to have them behind all of us and I want thank them all for their support.”

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