GLENGARNOCK teenager Rory Dickson will be competing alongside Olympic champion Adam Peaty and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medal hero Ross Murdoch at the British Swimming Championships this weekend.

The 16-year-old, who trains with the North Ayrshire Amateur Swimming Club, is among the youngest to qualify for the prestigious event at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh which starts on Thursday.

He’ll be racing in the same 100m and 200m breaststroke events as Peaty and Murdoch and also goes in the 400m Individual Medley on the final day of the meet on Sunday.

“I’m feeling excited to go and race against not only my own age group but the best in Britain,” he told us. “There will be people going to the Olympics in Tokyo 2020 there so it’s a really good opportunity to prove myself.

“I’m going to try to watch and learn from them and do everything they do, see how they prepare for their races and try to build it into my routine and better myself as a swimmer," Rory said.

If he has nerves about the biggest swims of his career they’re not showing.

Asked if he expected to make it to the biggest event in the sport in Britain at such a young age he said: “Yes, because I believe in myself! I’m just looking to swim the races the best I can, focussing on the process and the times will come if I swim everything with the right technique.”

Rory will have the advantage of being mentored by the North Ayrshire club’s head coach Ross Douglas, who knows all about what it takes to compete at these high-pressure events from his own career as a British internationalist.

“I’m telling him just to embrace that experience,” said Ross.

“He’s going to be going on poolside with the likes of Adam Peaty and that’s the sort of thing he’s going to have to deal with in the future, and getting that experience is the main aim of the meet.

“It’s about getting over being star-struck and seeing if Rory can deal with the pressure so that the next time he goes there he can focus purely on racing. It’s the same pool and everyone swims in the same water. I know Rory will always give me 100 per cent."