Exclusive:Two-time Commonwealth medallist Michael Jamieson rates Team Scotland's swimming medal prospects

Glasgow-born Jamieson - a two-time silver medallist at the Games in 2010 and 2014 - now runs his own swimming academy in the city and has been keeping a watchful eye on how Scotland's 2026 medal hopefuls have been gearing up.

Assessing the 25-strong squad headlined by stars Duncan Scott and Angharad Evans, the 37-year-old is optimistic that an exciting blend of youth and experience can help turn Tollcross International Swimming Centre into a fortress for the host nation.

"I must admit I'm a little bit envious of the athletes competing this week," Jamieson told The Scotsman. "I think we've got some really strong, technical swimmers and I enjoy watching how they put their race together. There's a real blend of youth and experience across the team, with Lucy Hope competing at her fourth Commonwealth Games and others making their debut.

"Obviously, Duncan is the leader of the pack, the captain. He's been performing at this level for over a decade now, which is unbelievable. His longevity has been excellent and I'm sure he'll be in great form again this year. Beyond that, we've got so many other great storylines within the team including a number of really fast swimmers from the University of Edinburgh programme.

"Ciara Schlosshan has been performing really well this season and will be one to watch in the 200m fly event. Katie Shanahan is amassing some really good senior experience so far as an athlete, winning medals at Birmingham 2022. I'm sure she'll be looking forward to stepping up again. There's a little bit of added motivation for Katie because she was born and bred in Glasgow and grew up training at Tollcross, so I'm hoping she performs well.

"Scott Gibson will have a good chance in the backstroke events, and even across the relay events we've got some really exciting younger swimmers coming through. I'm excited to see how the fare as well.

"The women's breaststroke events will also be good to watch as I know there's a few close-knit girls towards the top of the rankings, including Angharad Evans who is currently the World No.1 this season with a time of 1m04.9 which is incredible; there's not many women who have gone under that 1m05 marker. So I think we've got a strong team this year.”

Jamieson recalls 2014 ‘duel in the pool’ with Ross Murdoch

Recalling his own Commonwealth memories including his iconic duel in the pool with rival Ross Murdoch at Glasgow 2014, Jamieson said: "Delhi in 2010 was incredible, some of the best memories of my life let alone my career. It was just an unbelievable place to compete, a great energy around it all. It was also a real breakthrough moment for me, so I really enjoyed it.

"Glasgow was a completely different experience. I remember the occasion felt huge at the time. Coming off the back of the London Games, there had been so much momentum generated around Olympic sports in general. So the city was very much alive throughout the Games.

"I found myself in such a fortunate position back then and was heavily involved in a lot of the preview content in the build up. Performance-wise I didn't get what I wanted, but looking back on it now, it was so long ago and we came away with a Scottish one-two. Ross produced a world class time on the day, so on reflection it was a celebration of a couple of Scottish medals in the same event."

Jamieson making a splash in business world

Jamieson’s passion for the sport remains infectious. Since retiring from professional swimming in 2016, he maintains a close link to the athletes after using his own experiences rising through the ranks of traditional ‘learn to swim’ programmes that drove him to launch his own Swim Academy two years later.

His primary focus is getting children involved in swimming at a younger age and his business model has grown rapidly since then, with over thousands of pupils taking lessons each week in four pools around Glasgow, Edinburgh and Lanarkshire.

“I’ve always felt I had a social responsibility to help improve the services on offer to enable young kids to swim,” said the former 200m breaststroke British record-holder. “It’s an important life skill, being safe and confident in the water. From there, we can start to talk about performance benefits in terms of developing movement competencies and developing astute young athletes.

“At that point, hopefully we can alight some enthusiasm, hobby and passion for the sport, and then they can funnel into the youth performance pathways. That’s a very broad look at our frame work but we’d love to have our own purpose-built facility in the future. That’s what we’re working towards at the moment.

“Our ‘learn to swim’ programme has been up and running for about nine years now, and I’m very fortunate to be involved in a number of young kids’ journey. We’ve got a great team in place and we believe that our philosophy supports the development of kids in the water.”

*Michael Jamieson is working for TNT Sports as a swimming expert during the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. Watch every event on HBO Max and TNT Sports.