Duncan Scott became Team GB’s most decorated athlete at the European Games with gold in the men’s 100m freestyle and now has his sights set on hunting down Russia at the top of the medal table.
The 18-year-old took his personal tally to four medals in Baku, as he also formed part of the team that won silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Team GB have now won 13 medals in the pool and Scott sees no reason why the tally should end there.
“GB have had another solid day, so we just need to attack tomorrow the same way,” said Scott, who swam 49.43 seconds to win the 100m freestyle.
“I’m delighted with the medal. I was 0.3 seconds off my best, so I’m slightly disappointed I wasn’t closer to my PB.
“But I was delighted with the win and helping the GB swimmers in the medal table against Russia, it will be a battle until the end.”
There were two Team GB athletes on the podium following the men’s 200m individual medley with Jarvis Parkinson taking silver and Martyn Walton bronze.
And 17-year-old Walton was keen to adopt a glass-half-full approach.
“Whenever I fail I have a quote: ‘success is failure turned inside out’, so I’ll use the fail to push myself forwards to the next level,” he said.
“I’m happy with today, but sometimes I expect a little better from myself. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, it’s my last year as a junior so that’s the attitude I need to have going into next year.”
Layla Black defied her years to win bronze in the women’s 200m breaststroke final.
The 14-year-old was the youngest finalist and stopped the clock at 2:27.61 and later won her second medal of the Games - another bronze as part of the triumphant women’s 4x100m medley relay.
“This is my first time doing heats, semis then finals, so to be within the same half second or second it bodes well for future competitions,” said Black.
“I know the other girls are a year or two older than me, so coming in that top three shows that a gold medal is within my grasp in the future if I’m keeping up with them and I’m only 14.”
© Sportsbeat 2015