Ross Murdoch competed at his first international competition in 2013 and just a year later he stood on the top of the podium at his home Commonwealth Games.
Murdoch stormed through the final and took the gold medal with a second lead and stole the nation’s hearts with his tears on top of the podium.
He backed up this performance with two silver medals at the European Championships just a few weeks later.
Head Coach Bill Furniss said: “Ross has had a standout year and I don’t think anyone really expected the results at the Commonwealth Games. That 200m was a real breakthrough swim for him.
“As we stand now he ranks number one in the world but he still has lots of areas to work on so that’s exciting. I think it was impressive that he could go to the European Championships and produce another good performance.
“Both him and his coach Ben have done an excellent job.”