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Murdoch brimming with confidence ahead of 200m breaststroke final

BySportsbeat

Updated 27/07/2017 at 21:59 GMT

It's been a long and winding road for Ross Murdoch but finally he is back in a global final again in his favoured 200m breaststroke event ready to challenge for honours.

Ross Murdoch

Image credit: Getty Images

Just over three years to the day since he won gold in home waters at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Murdoch will take to the blocks tomorrow in Budapest looking to add to Great Britain's medal haul at the 2017 World Swimming Championships.
National pride aside, it is more specifically a personal mission for the Scot with injuries and selection heartbreak seeing him watch on from the sidelines for every major global 200m breaststroke final since 2014.
But Murdoch has rediscovered some of his old swagger this week and he goes into the medal race as the third-fastest qualifier after impressive swims in the heats and semi-finals, including going within four tenths of his British record in the latter after clocking 2:07.72.
"It's the first time I've been under 2:08 since August 2014," said Murdoch, after his semi-final.
"It's nice to be back. It's been a pretty up and down road, a lot of crooked alleyways I've been down over the past couple of years in terms of my swimming performance in that 200m.
"I said that right after the British trials that I was delighted to make my main event and I was going to do everything to make sure I was in better shape than that. I went 2:09.1 at the trials so I am in better shape.
"I've got a decent lane for the final, I'm looking forward to it."
Murdoch will be joined by Molly Renshaw in finals tomorrow, the Loughborough swimmer qualifying for the final of the women's 200m breaststroke.
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Great Britain's Molly Renshaw competes in a women's 200m breaststroke semi-final during the swimming competition at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, on July 27, 2017

Image credit: Getty Images

Britain will also have high hopes for the men's 4x200m freestyle relay, for which they are defending champions, with heats and finals both tomorrow.
Duncan Scott will be a key part of that relay, and will be keen to make up for the disappointment of missing out on another individual medal, as he finished joint fifth in the final of the 100m freestyle.
That was one of three medal opportunities that went begging on Thursday, with Max Litchfield coming fourth in the 200m individual medley, and Georgia Davies eighth in the 50m backstroke.
Scott was understandably frustrated but is confident the Brits can bounce back in the relay.
He said: "Obviously I'm hugely gutted with not being able to produce my best time on the day which matters.
"It's tough but then it's only my second ever international with individual swims so I've got to look at that in a positive way.
"I think it will be easy to get myself up for the relays. In the 4x2 we've got a great team and another opportunity.
"The likes of James Guy, he swam great in the 100 fly in the relay the other night and has the 100 fly again so the 4x2 team is something we can look and push towards. It's a team that’s looking to do something."
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