Ask Craig Hamilton when he first started swimming and he responds “since I was tiny.” Now, at a towering 6’3”, the teenager is ready to hit a career peak when he competes for Team GB at this summer’s European Junior Championships in Prague.

The Warrender 17-year-old is one of six Scots in the 57-strong squad and he will be chasing medals in the 400 and the 1500m freestyle – titles he won at the recent Scottish Gas Scottish National Age-Group Championships in Edinburgh.   

And it might not be his only European Junior event this summer. At the end of this month, he will take on a whole new challenge when he travels to Israel to take part in open water trials. He is one of three Britons taking part, and ‘only’ needs to complete the race to earn his place in a three man team for the Euro Juniors in Croatia. If he does really well, he could secure a place in the GB line-up for the open water world senior championships in Italy.

But he has never ventured out of the pool environment and it could be two hours of hell as he copes with the vagaries of the outdoor conditions and the jostling and barging that is part and parcel of the open water sport.
 
“I’ve not done any open water swimming, but have been practicing longer distances in the pool,” said Craig, who is coached by Laurel Bailey at the Warrender Club. “It will be quite nerve-wracking. 

“But I’m really looking forward to the European Juniors in Prague. It will be a great way to finish my junior career. I got the qualifying times at the British Championships in Sheffield in March and it’s good that there are quite a few strong Scots in the team.”

While representing GB in the capital of the Czech Republic might be the finale to his junior swimming, it will also mark a new era for Craig. The first stepping stone, perhaps, towards competing for Britain at major championships? Maybe even the 2012 Olympic Games in London?

At the end of this term, Craig will end his school days at Edinburgh’s George Watson’s College in Edinburgh – his next seat of learning will be Louisiana State University in America. He takes up a swimming scholarship in August and he will be studying business.

“I think that going to America and the change of scene will do me good,” continued Craig, who was just four when he joined coach Gail Smith’s learn-to-swim scheme at Warrender. “I have lots of goals to aim for over the next few years. The first is next year’s Commonwealth Games in India, then the 2012 Olympics followed by the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. “

Laurel, an Australian who has been with Warrender for four years and recently took over from Ian Wright as Head Coach is confident that Craig will perform in Prague, and beyond. “He definitely has a medal chance in the 1500m at the European Juniors,” she says. “He is ranked No.1 (senior) in Scotland in the event and is just three seconds away from achieving the Commonwealth Games qualifying time.

“We will be keeping in touch regularly when he is in America and then he’ll be back for the Commonwealth trials in Glasgow next June. He is a great prospect and has a very bright future.”

It certainly promises to be an exciting summer for this Scottish youngster.

EB
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