Holly McGill on her early breakthrough and her World Champs debut

The National

2 days ago

It was three years ago that McGill broke onto the international scene, making her Commonwealth Games debut at Birmingham 2022 at the tender age of 16. It's in the past twelve months, though, that she has begun to really capitalise on her potential.
The Edinburgh native, who turned 20 just a few weeks ago, made her GB senior debut at last year's European Championships and so she began this season with the explicit aim of retaining her place in the GB team.
Given the current strength of British Swimming, this is no mean feat but McGill has proved her mental fortitude is as impressive as her talent, with her performance at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in April - she won silver in the 200m backstroke and bronze in the 100m backstroke - enough to ensure selection for this year's World Aquatics Championships, which begin in Singapore on Friday.
While her selection came as little surprise to many observers, McGill admits she was pleasantly surprised with how she handled her first ultra high-pressure British Championships.
'At the start of this season, I was well aware that I could swim very well at the British Champs and still not make it into the team for the Worlds - nothing was guaranteed because the 200m backstroke field is so tough,' she says.
'You never know quite how you're going to react when you're in that high pressure environment.
'Last year felt different for me because making the GB team felt much more of a long shot whereas this time, I knew I could do it so it was just a case of actually performing on the day. Luckily, it worked out."
Holly McGill (l) won 200m backstroke silver at this year's British Championships behind her compatriot, Katie Shanahan (r) (Image: Sam Mellish) McGill began swimming purely as a result of her desire to copy everything her elder sister did so, as a 7-year-old, McGill duly followed her sibling to Heart of Midlothian Swimming Club. This was the same year as the London Olympic Games and although McGill had a passing interest in the 2012 Olympics - she can remember watching Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps but not much else - it wasn't until a few years later that she began to ponder taking swimming seriously.
'It wasn't until I was 12 that I started having bigger goals and I remember thinking that I'd love to go to the Olympics - but I had no idea what that meant or what I would need to do to get there,' she says.
'Around that time, Keanna MacInnes, who was also at Hearts, went to the 2018 Commonwealth Games and that did make me think well, if she can do it and she's come from the same kind of background and does the same kind of training as me then why shouldn't I be able to do it too?'
As McGill hit her mid-teens, she became a very big fish in the relatively small pond of Heart of Midlothian swim team but a move to Stirling University, which is the home to a sizeable chunk of the GB squad including Olympic gold medallists Duncan Scott and Kathleen Dawson, meant McGill was shunted right down the pecking order.
For some, this would be disconcerting but McGill insists being surrounded by swimmers who were better, and had achieved far more than her, was an extremely welcome change.
'In my last year at Hearts, I started realising I was one of the better swimmers but then moving to Stirling really grounded me because the swimmers there have so much experience and have achieved so much so it made me realise I still had quite a way to go to really make it," she says.
'I actually think it was a really good thing for me to go to the bottom of the ladder - seeing the skills these other swimmers had was a good reminder of how many things I still have to work on.
'The likes of Duncan (Scott) and Kat (Dawson) act like normal people and they're really nice so it's not like they're sitting speaking about winning Olympic medals but it is quite eye-opening training alongside people that I've looked up to for so long.'
McGill is, she hopes, on the path to emulating her Stirling teammates by becoming an Olympian, with LA 2028 the goal.
First, though, McGill is looking towards her second Commonwealth Games appearance at Glasgow 2026 where she will, she hopes, make more of an impact than she did as a teenager on her Commonwealth debut three years ago.
'Ultimately the aim is to get to LA in 2028 but first, there's the Glasgow Commonwealth Games,' she says.
'In 2022, I was only 16 and I had no idea what to expect in Birmingham. I was so wide-eyed to everything and I was just there to experience it all whereas next year's Commie Games, providing I get there, I'll be trying to really compete.'
Alongside McGill in the British team for next week's World Championships in Singapore are her fellow Scots, Duncan Scott, who is going for his tenth World championships medal and fifth world title, Katie Shanahan, Keanna MacInnes, Lucy Hope and Evan Jones, who will be making his World Championships debut.
The GB team also includes Olympic gold medallists Matt Richards, James Guy, Freya Anderson and Tom Dean.