Swimming: Edmond returns in thrilling style

Countless withdrawals from last night's finals put a dampener on events at the Super Grand Prix in Glasgow, leaving empty lanes and only a handful of big-name swimmers in the competition.

England team training camps which begin today in Malta and Toulouse are thought to be the reason for the mass exodus, but, with the Commonwealth Games looming, the tenacity of those who bothered to show up paid handsome dividends.

Scotland will be pinning their hopes next month on Edinburgh's Ian Edmond, who rose to fame last year when he obliterated David Wilkie's 25-year-old Scottish record in the 200 metres breaststroke. Last night he returned from illness to take the event in 2.14.93 seconds.

Edmond, whose Scottish record time would have won him bronze at the Sydney Olympics, said: "It's been a pretty tough time for me recently with me being ill and struggling to get my technique back. That's one of the fastest times I've done, so I'm delighted with that."

His fellow Scot Gregor Tait also made a promising return to form in the 200m backstroke, winning in 2.01.08sec, while Glasgow's Rebecca Cooke claimed her third victory of the competition in the women's 400m individual medley, finishing three seconds clear of the field in 4.52.75sec.

Faced with the large number of absentees, Bill Sweetenham, the national performance director, said changes would need to be made. "We should have training camps before the competition and not after," he said. "This will put an end to the problem of swimmers leaving competitions early, but, for those who did stay, we had some good swims and some great results tonight."