Scotland’s Craig Hamilton enjoyed an outstanding debut as an open water swimmer in Israel at the weekend and is set to qualify for Team GB for both the World Senior and the European Junior Championships next month.

The 17-year-old Warrender swimmer finished fifth in the 10km LEN Open Water Cup in Israel, completing the distance in just under two hours. Olympic silver medallist Kerri-Anne Payne won the women’s title, while fellow-Briton, Richard Charlesworth, took the men’s title.

Hamilton, the Scottish Gas age-group Champion in the distance freestyle events, has already qualified to compete for Britain at the European Junior swimming Championships in Prague next month.  

Now his diary for July is also almost sure to include the senior World Open Water Championships in Italy and the European Junior equivalent in in Croatia. The teams will be confirmed this week.

“It was a great performance by Craig,” said his Warrender coach, Laurel Bailey.  “It was his first open water swim and he said he became very dehydrated because the water temperature was around 24 degrees. He also said it didn’t taste very nice.”

Having just left George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, Hamlton is heading to America this autumn to take up a swimming scholarship at Louisiana State University.