Stirling swimmer Duncan Scott has added another title to his tally after being crowned BUCS sportsman of the year for 2019.
The awards dinner, which recognised and celebrated the best of British university and college sport, from athletic achievements to volunteering, was held at the University of the West of England last week.
Scott came out on top in the ‘Sportsman of the year’ category, after narrowly missing out last year.
In a tough contest, he beat out rugby star Luke Northmore from Cardiff Metropolitan and decorated para swimmer Taka Suzuki from Northumbria University.
The double Olympic medallist was one of only two students from Scottish universities to be shortlisted at this years award, the other being University of Edinurgh fencer, Chloe Dickson.
Scott was unable to attend the event as he was in South Korea, ahead of competing in Gwangju at the World Aquatic Championships over the next fortnight.
There, he will compete in the 100m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 200m freestyle, and relay events.
In a pre-recorded acceptance speech, Scott said: “BUCS sport is a massive part of being at the university. It’s been a long time coming but I’ve finally achieved this award.
“There’s numerous people across the country who are so talented and have achieved such great things in sport, so the award gets tougher and tougher to win.”
Scott also praised the staff and the facilities at the university, adding: “We [University of Stirling] are going to go from having world class facilities to world leading facilities, so I think in the years to come it’s only going to get better and better.”
Capitalising on his success at the Commonwealth Games last year, Scott swam his way to double gold at the BUCS Long Course Championships in February, winning individually in the 200m butterfly event and contributing to Stirling’s relay success.
In April’s British Championships, Scott stunned crowds, performing under pressure to produce a lifetime best of 1:56:65 in the 200m individual medley.
He also became the British national record holder in the men’s 100m freestyle.
Sports president Gill Thayne said: “Duncan’s been fantastic this year and this is just one of the brilliant achievements he has got this year. His amazing performances have been commended with the award which is lovely.”
She added: “We are very proud of him for yet another award and it’s good to see that his hard work has paid off. He is a great guy and I can’t wait to see what is to come in the next year.”
BUCS Sportswoman of the Year went to Hayley Mill, an indoor athletics star from the University of Nottingham.
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