Scottish record holder Gregor Tait added the British mark to his list when he won the 100m backstroke on the final day of the British Short Course Championships.

Tait twenty-two year old Edinburgh swimmer carved 1700th off Martin Harris' mark which had stood since 1994, when recording 52;98sec. In the semi-final the previous day, he came within 0;28 of the national record but in the final he made sure he dipped under his target time.

This success helped to wipe away the disappointment of missing the crucial qualification times for the recent World Championships and he admitted afterwards "Thank god for that. It's good to get Martin off the record books."

Busy Ian Edmond clinched two victories in the space of ten minutes. The twenty three year old team mate of Tait swam a brilliant 200m breast-stroke to win in a personal best time and a Scottish record of 2mion 09.28sec. He then snatched victory in the 100m medley with a finger nail finish in 56.60sec.

Edmond remarked later about his breast-stroke win "It was a relief to get under 2-10 and the British record is certainly my target (that record is held by Nick Gillingham at 2min 07.91sec). I was inside the pace at 150m it's about time some one got that record. I've done twenty two races in ten days so I'm tired but it's certainly more fun than racing."

Commonwealth champion James Hickman completed a clean sweep of butterfly crowns when he added the 50m to the 100 and 200 won earlier in the championships. In the absence of the world record holder, Mark Foster, Hickman won in 24.14sec.

During the four days the spectators witnessed one World, one European, two Commonwealth and ten British records ending three and a half weeks of intensive racing for the British but Bill Sweetenham's recipe is showing results and it looks as if British swimming has turned the corner.