Hannah Miley and Kris Gilchrist are the two home swimmers using the Scottish Gas Scottish Open Championships in Glasgow today as a final warm-up for next month’s world championships in Rome.

For the fans, it will be a first chance to welcome Rebecca Adlington to Scotland since she became a double Olympic champion in Beijing last August.

Miley, at just 19, will b a medal hopeful in Rome. A hugely talented all-rounder, the youngster who is coached by her father, Patrick, at the Garioch Club in Inverurie, is European record-holder in the 400m individual medley.

Gilchrist has been based in Paris since he reached the semi-final of the 200m breaststroke on his Olympic debut. He followed head coach Fred Vergnoux to the city’s Racing Club following the closure of the City of Edinburgh programme.

“I love living in Paris,” admitted the 25-year-old. "We train outside all the time, which is great, and there are only 11 swimmers in the squad and it is a slightly older group than at the Commonwealth Pool. 

“Training has being going well and this week is just about keeping things ticking over. I’ve haven’t rested for Glasgow. I‘m feeling good for the world championships, and hope to swim well. A medal? All I’ll say is that I hope to swim really well.”

Adlington, of course, has extremely high hopes for Rome. She won the 400m and 800m freestyle in Beijing – although she lost the British 400m title to English colleague Jo Jackson at the first set of trials in Sheffield in March. Mind you, Jackson did break the world record. 

“I’ve competed in a few Scottish Open Championships and I’ve always enjoyed coming up here,” said Adlington, whose boyfriend is the Scottish internationalist, Andy Mayor. “I’ve entered the 200m 400m and 800m freestyle in Glasgow and I feel in good shape. 

“Come Rome, and I would like to think I can get close to the world record I set in Beijing in the 800m freestyle. As for the 400m, it should be close. Jo’s the world record holder, so it should be great for British swimming.”