Being an elite swimmer can be the loneliest of pursuits.
Lap after lap of the pool, unable to communicate with even the person just a few feet away in the next lane, makes swimming, at times anyway, a particularly individualistic discipline.
But despite being one of the most successful individuals in this current generation of international swimmers, Duncan Scott’s interest is piqued far more by team sports than any individual pursuit.
Scott has spent much of his childhood, and all of his adulthood, immersed in the swimming world.
But it’s NFL that he spends hours upon hours watching, and its top players from whom he gleans nuggets of information about improving performance.
“Growing up, I was a big fan of team sports,” Scott says.
“Going to a boarding school, it was mandatory to do team sports. It’s something I loved doing and they’re the sports I love watching too.
“One of the things I really like about NFL is that they play no matter what. It was minus 28 the other day at one of the games, which is kind of mad.
“I’m interested in the way that different teams operate and the way that coaches can get people together or teams to do different things.
“I can take little pieces of it for myself.
“Since Tom Brady's retired, he's opened up more around what he was like and that's really special because he's someone who wasn't particularly talented or gifted in a physical sense. His work ethic and things like that are quite inspiring. There's always stories you hear from world-class athletes about going the extra mile or looking at the finer details.”
Scott’s had plenty of time to spend poring over NFL games in recent weeks.
The 26-year-old spent much of January in Flagstaff in Arizona at a high-altitude training camp in preparation for the World Championships, which begin in Doha next Sunday, where freestyle and IM specialist Scott is one of the headline names in a 20-strong GB team that also includes his Scottish compatriots Katie Shanahan, Kathleen Dawson and Lucy Hope.
As one of Britain’s most-decorated athletes ever, Scott is now expected, by outsiders anyway, to pick up at least a few pieces of silverware at every major championships he graces.
These World Championships have somewhat of a different feel to them, however.
Taking place unusually early in the year, Scott’s focus is primarily on this summer, rather than the coming few weeks.
The Paris Olympics are now less than six months away and with Scott having won a record-breaking four medals at Tokyo 2020, including a gold, it comes as little surprise that with the Olympics coming into view, he feels the increased spotlight of the media and the public upon him.
With a decade of experience on the international stage up his sleeve however, he’s confident he can make it to Paris relatively unscathed by the pressure that will be inevitably heaped upon him.
“Olympic year is the one time the media attention really ramps up,” the University of Stirling swimmer says.
“That’s the biggest thing with an Olympic year, the noise is increased, and the publicity is increased as well.
“So it’s about shutting that out a little bit more and having a bit more tunnel vision.
“Anyway, there's plenty of other things to focus on between now and Paris.
“The Olympic trials are as important, if not more important than Paris, and there’s the Worlds next week too.
“At Worlds, we’ll be looking to qualify the (4x200m freestyle) relay for the Olympics, and for me, there’s the chance to do some individual swims as well.
“All the attention can be quite difficult but once you add in the training camps, the competitions and all other things, that’s really the spine of the year.
“And as the Olympics get closer, it's about pushing the attention away a little bit more.”
These World Championships come a decade after Scott made his international debut. The training required to remain at the top of one’s sport for such a sustained period amounts to thousands of hours and so it would be easy to understand if Scott felt some of his drive waning, at least temporarily.
However, the fact that 2024 is an Olympic year means that, despite the constant slog of training that Scott has endured year after year, he feels no dip in his motivation as the Opening Ceremony of Paris 2024 edges closer.
“The Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport,” he says.
“Becoming Olympic champion is something that everyone dreams of so that's one of the things that still drives me, along with many other elements in the sport whether that's technical progression, times, other events or different competitions that I want to do well in.
“So fortunately, in this year, there are plenty of things still driving me on, which is good.”
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