Home crowd experience one to savour for swimmer Renshaw

Renshaw, who in 2016 set a new British record in the 200m breaststroke to qualify for the Olympic final in Rio, is set to compete in the short course competition in December, building momentum for her bid to secure a place at her second Games in Tokyo next year.

And she enjoys the shorter format, winning gold at the 2016 World Short Course Championships in Windsor - also in her favoured 200m event.

But with this year's competition looming, she believes the partisan nature of the Glasgow crowd will help her further enhance her medal collection.

"Glasgow will be amazing - we've had quite a few internationals in Scotland over the years and it's always an amazing crowd and it makes such a difference," the 23-year-old said.

"It brings such an atmosphere and they're quite rowdy which is nice! Walking out and hearing your name being shouted is nice.

"We go abroad a lot and don't always get that so it's a really nice change.

"The short course always builds momentum at the start of the year - it's really good to get fast times in and practice your skills and your turns.

"Short course is fun, fast and technical - it's just a completely different ball game as there are a lot more turns involved and it's a lot more technical.

"I've always been quite good at short course - I think my turns are quite strong and I always used to love racing short course and dread long course!"

Renshaw is a versatile customer, however, scooping gold in the European Long Course Championships in London in 2016 in the 4x100m medley followed by bronze in the 200m breaststroke at the event two years later.

She also claimed silver at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast last year in her specialist 200m breaststroke discipline, enhancing her burgeoning reputation even further at one of the world's premier events.

But it's at the Games where she really wants to medal, with her love of Japan making the prospect of success next year even more tantalising.

"It would be amazing to go to Tokyo - my first Olympic Games in Rio were really, really special, and I love Tokyo so much so I really want to be there," she added.

"Tokyo definitely holds a special place in my heart so I'd love to be on the team.

"I just love the buzz of swimming - the training is hard and gruelling but it's definitely worth it come racing when you get to step into these big arenas."

Sportsbeat 2019